Six more die in Assam floods, over 5.5 lakh still marooned
Guwahati, June 19: With six more deaths reported from Cachar and Karimganj districts on Tuesday, the death toll in the first wave of floods in Assam has reached 17 as 5,64,074 people continued to be affected by the deluge in five districts on Tuesday.
While the flood situation has improved in Golaghat and East and West Karbi Anglong districts on Tuesday, Nagaon Hojai, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts continued to be affected by floods.
According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 727 villages are affected in the flood-hit districts.
Officials said that standing crops on around 4,000 hectares of land have been damaged.
"Two people were reported to have been killed due to flood in Cachar while four others were killed in Karimganj," an ASDMA official said, adding that over 1.5 lakh people have taken shelter in relief camps in Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts in Barak Valley.
"The National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) personnel have been deployed to assist the district administration in carrying out relief and rescue operations.
"Over 9,000 people have been rescued by the NDRF and SDRF forces from Cachar and Hailakandi on Tuesday," said the ASDMA official.
Meanwhile, Northeast Frontier Railway officials said trains would start running in Badapur-Silchar hill section after a track fit certificate was received for running train on the flood-affected Panchgram-Katakhal section near Silchar.
Accordingly, the Silchar-Guwahati Express and the 15943 UP Silchar-Dibrugarh express will start from Silchar on Wednesday as per time table.
Train services in the section, which is the lifeline of people in Assam's Barak Valley, Tripura and Mizoram, were suspended due to landslide in different areas on the stretch.
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Karnataka Cabinet to meet again to discuss SC internal reservation during recruitment
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Cabinet has decided to meet again to discuss the issue of providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes for direct recruitment in the government sector, as deliberations on the matter remained incomplete.
While no specific date for the next meeting has been announced, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters it would be held "at the earliest" and reiterated the government's commitment to the issue.
The issue came up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, amid reports of rifts between SC(Right) and SC (Left) factions within the ruling Congress over providing internal reservation in the recruitment to 56,432 vacant posts.
"The government is committed to providing internal reservation. We will meet again for further discussion. The chief minister will decide when to meet at the earliest. It will be a Cabinet meeting and will be held as early as possible," Patil said.
He said, "We had a detailed discussion on this matter for some time, but it was incomplete because many ministers are yet to speak on this. The order already issued (for filling up vacancies) will not be disturbed, and about other things, we will discuss in the next meeting."
The state government decided to conduct recruitment for 56,432 vacant jobs based on the reservation order in force before December 28, 2022, (15 per cent for SCs and 3 per cent for STs), due to the stay on the enhanced quota and internal reservation, while continuing to pursue its case in court.
The previous BJP government had increased the reservation quota for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, raising the state's total reservation to 56 per cent, exceeding the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent ceiling.
While this matter is still in court, the Congress government decided to provide internal reservation by slicing up the 17 per cent reservation matrix given to 101 scheduled castes, under three groups, with a formula of six, six, and five per cent respectively.
According to sources, the SC(Left)/Madiga community, which has fought for internal reservation for decades, opposes recruitment for 56,432 jobs without providing internal reservation.
The SC (Right)/Holeya community, however, favoured recruitment without providing internal reservation.
At the meeting, the Cabinet gave administrative approval for Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation to purchase 144 'BS-VI' urban transport diesel buses at an estimated cost of Rs 62 crores.
It also granted administrative approval for the purchase of hardware and software for implementing ICJS (Inter-operable Criminal Justice System) and IT services in the state under the Police Modernisation Project at an estimated cost of Rs 227.58 crores.
The Cabinet also asked the health minister to speak with officers, doctors and other staffers appointed on a permanent, contract, temporary, or outsourced basis in the health department, who have threatened to go on strike over their various demands.
Approval was also given for amendments to certain sections of the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, and the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, regarding advertisement charges under local bodies.
