NEWS

The roof collapse incident at the upmarket Chintels Paradiso has sent apartment dwellers in a state of panic with many across the national capital region (NCR) demanding an immediate structural audit of the high-rise residential societies from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

There are a number of complaints about the poor construction quality of flats against many builders across NCR. The incident that occurred on Thursday evening left two women dead and over a dozen others injured. An FIR was registered against the builder, who is yet to be arrested. On Friday, many residents moved out of the society apprehensive of the construction quality.

Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi claimed that he was denied permission to fly in his helicopter two times on Monday - first to join party leader Rahul Gandhi's rally in Hoshiarpur from Chandigarh and later to travel from Sujanpur to attend a public meeting in Jalandhar - due to flying restrictions in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Jalandhar.

Speaking to media over phone, Channi said, "I am the CM of the state and not a terrorist. The reasons are political, an attempt to unnecessarily harass me and stop me from campaigning. We are being stopped in our own state. The PM himself said in his speech that he could not fly due to Rahul Gandhi's visit in 2014. Besides, he is upset with me due to the incident in Ferozepur during his last visit. It is an attempt to take revenge on me, on the farmers and on Punjabis. But whatever they might do, I will remain steadfast with the Punjabis. I am not afraid - they have tried to stop me today even if they try to harm me, or even kill me, even then I have no fear."

After over a week of the closure of schools and colleges in the state, the government of Karnataka decided to reopen the schools and colleges from today, February 16, in the midst of the current hijab controversy surrounding the dress code rule.

The schools and colleges in Karnataka have been reopened in a phased manner, with the schools up to Class 10 reopening earlier this week, and the schools for Classes 11 and 12, as well as colleges and universities, reopening from February 16.

This comes after the Karnataka High Court permitted the reopening of educational institutes in the state, asking all the students to not wear any religious symbols and attire inside the campus to avoid any conflicts and adhere to the dress code.

Following landslide victory of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) elections, results of which were declared today, a visibly delighted party chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thanked the people of Siliguri and asked them to prepare plans to make the gateway to North Bengal and the Northeast “smarter and glittering.”

As she left Kolkata for Siliguri on a four-day North Bengal visit today, Miss Banerjee said: “I am leaving for Siliguri, following good results there.” Miss Banerjee was also visibly delighted to announce that senior party leader from Siliguri Gautam Deb would be made the mayor of Siliguri. According to a Kolkatabased political observer, Miss Banerjee’s victory in Siliguri will help her recover organisational base in northern North Bengal and adjoining areas in the Northeast to fight the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024.