Ullal resident back home from Afghanistan
Mangaluru, Aug 19: Melwyn, a resident of Ullal near here who was one among the several Indians stranded in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control, seems relieved after he returned to his hometown on Thursday.
Melwyn, who was working at the electrical maintenance department of the military base camp hospital of NATO in Kabul, safely returned to India in the Indian Air Force (IAF) plane from Kabul on Wednesday. His brother is still stuck in Afghanistan and is expected to return to India soon.
Talking to reporters, Melwyn said 160 people including seven employees of his company, along with personnel and security of the Indian embassy in Kabul, were airlifted from Kabul at 5 am on Wednesday and brought to the IAF base at Jamnagar and to Delhi. He came to Bengaluru on Wednesday and reached Ullal on Thursday.
"Our organisation has shifted other people of Indian origin working in our company to various places including Norway, London and Qatar. They will be kept in quarantine there and will return to India after completing the isolation period," he said.
Melwyn's brother Demy is working as an air-conditioning mechanic at the Kabul military base camp. He is waiting for a flight at Kabul airport to get back to India. Melwyn said his brother is safe at the airport.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
