NEWS

Locals in Rajasthan's Hadoti region are reeling under misery as torrential rains triggered flash floods in large parts of the state. They alleged administrative apathy as no government official or minister has distributed relief materials to the affected families.

The Hadoti region includes Kota, Bundi, Baran and Jhalawar. Around 50 villages in Baran district, including Karvari Kallan, Daulatpura and Karvari Khurd have been inundated due to intermittent and heavy rainfall for the last three days.

A section of media visited several districts of Baran to gauge the ground situation. Around 30 villages in the district are marooned and have been completely cut off from the outside world as five to six feet of water has accumulated.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Thursday reiterated that it will not be able to open more gates in order to ensure social distancing protocols and long queues outside metro stations may continue for a while.

In a statement, the DMRC said that it will be difficult to regulate the crowd inside metro stations and trains if more gates are opened, thereby leading to violation of Covid-19 regulations. It added that opening of more gates will not help as the number of passengers allowed inside trains is limited to sitting only.

There is a sharp fall in complaints submitted to the Lokpal, with only 12 complaints received by the anti-corruption ombudsman so far this year as against 110 in 2020-21 and 1,427 in 2019-20, the ministry of personnel told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh, while replying to supplementary queries to a starred question, said the considerable reduction in complaints liable to be submitted to Lokpal was "a good reflection not only on the part of the Lokpal but also on the Modi government, because there is hardly anything to complain for".

On the current vacancies in the Lokpal, Singh said, "The (appointment) process is going on. We have already constituted the Lokpal Committee." In response to a supplementary as to when the two vacancies of judicial members in the Lokpal shall be filled, the minister informed that the chairman and the other nine members had been duly appointed but one judicial member died due to Covid while the other tendered his resignation. He said appointment of both judicial members shall be done in due course.

A review meeting convened by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday regarding the Covid-19 situation in Delhi has led to a fresh conflict between the elected government in Delhi and the Raj Bhavan, with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying the LG holding parallel meetings without informing the state government is “against the Constitution”.

The LG on Wednesday tweeted about a Covid-19 review meeting with chief secretary Vijay Dev, additional chief secretary (home and health) Bhupinder S Bhalla, divisional commissioner Sanjiv Khirwar, Delhi Metro chief Mangu Singh and other senior officials, and the directions issued to the officials.

Kejriwal responded to the LG’s tweet, and requested him to avoid direct meetings with officials of the Delhi government.