TN Hotels' body requests Centre to withdraw order on supply of commercial LPG cylinders
Chennai (PTI): The Tamil Nadu Hotels Association, a body representing the hotels and restaurants in the state, has appealed to the Centre to withdraw its order instructing oil marketing companies to suspend commercial LPG cylinders.
While understanding that the government has issued such an order arising out of the conflict in the Middle Eastern countries, the association's president M Venkadasubbu, stressed that such a decision would severely affect the hotels and eateries and large number of people employed in the sector.
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"Hotels and restaurants are primarily dependent on using commercial gas cylinders. Therefore, if the supply of these commercial gas cylinders is not regularised, hotels and eateries will be forced to suspend their operations," he said in a statement here on Saturday.
It would largely hit lakhs of workers employed in the sector, he cautioned.
Venkadasubbu urged the government to withdraw such a directive, and oil companies to take up measures to ensure uninterrupted delivery of commercial LPG cylinders.
On March 6, the government invoked sparingly used emergency powers to direct oil refineries to ramp up LPG production as it looks to increase the availability of domestic cooking gas to hedge against potential disruptions from the widening Middle East conflict.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the prices of domestic LPG and commercial cylinders were hiked by a steep Rs 60 and Rs 114.5, respectively, amid rising energy costs linked to the conflict.
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Nashik court sends ‘godman’ Kharat to 3-day police custody in 7th sexual exploitation case
Nashik (PTI): A court in Maharashtra's Nashik has remanded self-styled astrologer-cum-godman Ashok Kharat to police custody till April 29 in the seventh case of sexual exploitation registered against him.
Kharat, a former Merchant Navy officer arrested on March 18, is accused of sexually exploiting several women and indulging in large-scale financial fraud by claiming to have divine powers and knowledge of black magic.
In the seventh case, Kharat sexually exploited a married woman who had approached him in search of solutions to her family problems.
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The accused allegedly gave the woman something to drink, sexually assaulted her while her husband sat outside his office and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about it.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing into 12 cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against Kharat in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts, on Sunday filed a request application in the court demanding his custody in the seventh case.
Kharat was produced in court for a virtual hearing in the seventh case on Monday.
The prosecution demanded six-day police custody for Kharat, citing the discovery of a locker in Kharat's house during the investigation, from which the police recovered two blank cheques and other documents, all of which have to be probed.
The court agreed to the prosecution's demand and remanded Kharat to three-day police custody till April 29 in the case.
Kharat has been at the centre of a political firestorm, as he was well-connected, and photographs of him with political leaders and other important members of society have been surfacing in mainstream and social media since his arrest.
