Rising population in cities pose challenge for urbanisation, says Union Minister Khattar
Bengaluru (PTI): Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said urbanisation has become a major issue with the rapid rise in city population and the Centre has begun holding regional meetings to address a wide range of urban development concerns.
"Urbanisation has become a major issue these days because, day by day, the population of our cities is increasing," Khattar said after a regional meeting here involving Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Lakshadweep.
The union minister for housing and urban affairs said the meeting discussed subjects "right from road, drains, mobility, metro rail," and included "demands and suggestions" from participating states.
"It was a good meeting," he said, adding that the Centre plans to hold an Urban Conclave in New Delhi soon where ministers, secretaries and the mayors of some important corporations will be invitied.
Stressing the importance of cooperative federalism, Khattar said, "There may be governments of various political parties, but for being in a cooperative federalism, we have to cooperate with each other so that together we can move. We have to strengthen our country and no state should be left behind."
Responding to questions about the alleged delay in release of central funds, the minister clarified that there is no common policy in all the subjects as many issues are state-specific.
He added that metro and other urban projects are funded through a mix of central-state partnerships, public-private ventures, and international agencies like those in Japan and the World Bank.
On the Bengaluru tunnel road controversy in which Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and BJP MP Tejasvi Surya have locked horns, Khattar said urban challenges differ from city to city and there cannot be ‘a common solution’ for all.
"Every city has different situations. Metro can be built underground and above...," he remarked.
Khattar highlighted that India’s metro network has expanded rapidly, with 1,100 km operational and another 900 km in progress.
"Today we are in third place in terms of the metro rail network. Once we build a 2,000 km metro rail line, we will surpass the USA also," he said.
He concluded that metro rail work is under way in five cities and will eventually expand to 29 across the country.
On Bihar polls, he said his party’s alliance will win.
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.
Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
