6 news · the state government mission kakatiya and stated that so far 18,000 tanks were restored...

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NEWS 6 HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY 23 MAY 2018 OUR BUREAU H y d e r a b a d : Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao urged the Indian Water Council (IWC) to recom- mend the Government of India to link Koyna Dam water back- wards to Krishna River. The Min- ister stated that more than 100 TMC of water from Koyna Dam in Maharashtra was going waste into sea after Hydel power gen- eration. Harish Rao was addressing the ‘National Convention on Rejuve- nation of Krishna River’ organ- ised by Telangana Water Re- sources Development Corporation (TWRDC) here at Vishweshwaraya Bhavan on Tuesday. Rao said that Koyna dam was constructed for Hydro power generation on Krishna River in Maharashtra. “After power generation more than 100 TMC of water is owing into Ara- bian Sea. The Krishna water is owing outside the basin whereas basin areas are starving for irrigation and drinking water. The Convention can discuss this aspect and suggest ways and means to divert Koyna Dam wa- ters back to Krishna River,” Har- ish Rao said. The Minister said that upper Krishna Sates may release envi- ronmental ows from their dams to protect ora, fauna and aquatic life of river which will also help in rejuvenation of Krishna River. By diverting the water to Krishna basin, ve times more electricity can be produced, he added. Stating that River Krishna was the fourth biggest in the country and which was fast drying up, the Minister said his government would extend full support for the programme taken up by IWC un- der the leadership of Rajender Singh. The Minister explained about the agship programme of the State government Mission Kakatiya and stated that so far 18,000 tanks were restored in the State with Rs 3,000 crore during the last three years and an ayacut of 10 lakh acres were brought back into irrigation under minor irrigation sector. In Krishna basin about 6,000 tanks were re- stored with an amount of about Rs 950 crores in the last four years. Now fourth stage of Mis- sion Kakatiya programme is be- ing continued, he added. Ground water levels increased by 10 m in the State due to the increased storage capacity and retention of water in the tanks for longer pe- riods, he added. He further said that by the construction of Kaleshwaram project, Godavari River would get a new life and out of 500 km stretch of river in Telangana, 275 km of Godavari River would be rejuvenated. Government had also formed Musi River Front Development Corporation and Manair River on Godavari basin. The Minister said that the gov- ernment had completed four on- going projects in Mahbubnagar district and brought 6.5 lakh acres into irrigation and lled 700 tanks in the district. “We have seen a tremendous change in the villages and reverse migra- tion is taking place,” said the Minister. He also talked about Mission Bhagiratha project which aims to provide water se- curity to each citizen of the State. Waterman of India Rajendra Singh said, “what Harish Rao had said today, I have been saying for a long time.” Singh said that re- juvenation of rivers was the most needed thing in the 21st Century. He echoed the statements of the Irrigation Minister on Koyna Dam and stated that if the water brought to Krishna River is noth- ing but recycling of the water it would help in increasing ecolog- ical ow. Rajendra Singh said that In- dian judiciary cannot solve the confrontation on water because the administrators and politics create conicts. Solution can be achieved if eorts are put in be- yond the boundaries, he added. He stressed on the need to have various groups including educa- tional institutions, civil society and people who are striving to save saving rivers work together. He also stressed on the need for river literacy and said that unless there is no knowledge about river science there cannot be a talk on river rights. Health Minister C Laxma Reddy, TWRDC Chairman V Prakash, experts in water conser- vation Vikram Soni, World Water Council Governor Prithvi Raj Singh and others also spoke at the convention. Minister urges the Convention to discuss and suggest ways to divert Koyna Dam waters back to Krishna River Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao observes that if upper Krishna States release environmental ows from their dams then they can protect ora, fauna and aquatic life of river which will also help in rejuvenation of Krishna River Harish for linking Koyna Dam to Krishna river Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao addressing National Convention on Rejuvenation of Krishna River in Hyderabad on Tuesday C o n t i n u e d f r o m P 1 Thousands of local residents have been protesting for more than three months against the Sterlite copper smelting plant and its reported expansion but com- plained that the state government had not responded to their de- mands. They had intensied protests demanding closure of the plant after reports came in that the group was seeking licence for expansion as the initial 25-year li- cence comes to an end. About 20,000 people gathered at the protest site and stormed the District Collector's oce, vandal- ising government property. Senior Tamil Nadu minister Jayakumar said the police didn't have an option but to open re since the protests had turned "ex- tremely violent". The police ring was unavoidable, he said. MK Stalin of the opposition DMK blamed the state govern- ment for the violence, saying that people had been protesting peace- fully for so long but the adminis- tration did not attempt to address the concerns of the people. The plant should be shut down, Stalin said. Actor-politician Kamal Haasan made a similar point, "Citizens are not criminals... They are the ones who lose their lives," Haasan, who had earlier participated in the peaceful protests against the plant, said. "It is the negligence of the government... The govern- ment ignored peaceful protests," he said. In March 2013, hundreds of people suered breathing di- culty, nausea and throat infection following an alleged gas leak from the plant. Though the plant was ordered to shut down following allegations of violating pollution control norms, the National Green Tribunal had ultimately al- lowed it to be reopened. The same year in another case spearheaded by MDMK chief Vaiko, the Supreme Court had slapped a 100 crore ne on the plant for polluting over the years. However, at that time Sterlite, run by the Vedanta group, had claimed it adheres to pollution control norms. Sterlite began operations in 1996. It now employs about 1,000 people full time and about 2,000 on contract. It also provides indi- rect employment opportunity for around 25,000 people. Anti-Sterlite rally turns violent, 10 killed in ring C o n t i n u e d f r o m P 1 At present, vacant state cadre Group I posts are being lled through direct recruitment and promotions in the ratio of 40: 60 respectively. The employees’ unions have been demanding to bring down the direct recruit- ment of the Group I posts to 20 per cent from the existing 40 per cent facilitating promotion for the lower cadre ocials with their seniority. At present, all the state cadre posts like RDO, DSP, CTO, RTO, Excise Superintendent, District Registrar (Cooperative soci- eties), DPO and so on were exist- ing in 35 departments in the state. The employees’ unions also brought to the notice of the gov- ernment that state cadre posts are open to all including non-lo- cals, who pursued Telugu as sec- ond language, to compete in the exam and get selected for any Group I post. This provision has come as tough challenge for Telangana locals to compete with non-locals including from the neighbouring Andhra to get se- lected in the competitive exam. After bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, not a single notication for Group I posts was issued, Telangana Employees union President A Padma Chary, said that before issuing notication, the unions were demanding re- duction in the state cadre posts and to convert them into multi zonal posts. Once the state cadre posts are made as multi zonal posts, he said locals will get op- portunity to get selected without any competition from non-locals. The increased quota of the state cadre posts through promotions will help the senior ocials to render service as state ocers. The committee is seriously discussing the issues raised by the employees’ unions on state cadre posts and will come to a conclusion before nalising the creation of new zones. The unions were demanding the cre- ation of four new zones in addi- tion to the existing two and two multi zones in the state en- suring the protection of the serv- ices of the existing employees and also put to rest the problems to be raised in the new selections in future. ‘Slash Group I direct posts Lion’s share for Cong in Karnataka Cabinet C o n t i n u e d f r o m P 1 Gandhi, however, left the de- cisions on these issues to the state leaders, said Venugopal, who was present at the meeting. The Congress and the JD(S) had announced a last-minute tie-up during the counting of votes to keep the BJP out of power in the state. Though to- gether, the two parties could command majority in the As- sembly, the BJP, as the single largest party, was invited to form the government by Gover- nor Vajubhai Vala. BS Yeddyu- rappa, who took oath on Thurs- day after a hectic appeal by the Congress and a midnight hear- ing in the Supreme Court, stepped down minutes before Saturday's trust vote, which many expected him to lose. Green signal for transfers C o n t i n u e d f r o m P 1 Under the Transfer policy, spouses working in far-away locations, widows, physically challenged and the ocials retiring in two or three years will be given priority in transfers. Though seniority and service are taken into consideration for the transfers, the grievances of the above mentioned categories will be taken into consideration rst and address the same instantly. It is mandatory that the ocials should seek transfer if they completed two years in service in the existing post and location. The new policy will facilitate the transfer of 50 per cent of total staat one go, ocials said, adding that the new provision will help transfer the ocials en masse, particularly in the Police and Excise and Prohibition de- partments. Thousands of the applications seeking transfers on spouse grounds and the ocials working for years in the same locations from these two depart- ments were pending since years. The heads of the Panchayat Raj, Rural Develop- ment and Municipal Administration and Urban Developments have already been busy preparing the lists of ocials to be transferred. The committee recom- mended to the government not to take up the transfer of teachers working in School Education department until the issue of the uniform service rules case pending before High Court is resolved. The government was asked to appoint a legal expert to dispose othe court's status quo on transfers at the earliest. OUR BUREAU H y d e r a b a d : In a bid to avoid em- barrassing moments of having to rub shoulders with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Telan- gana Chief Minister K Chan- drasekhar Rao ew one day in ad- vance to Bengaluru and greeted Karnataka Chief Minister desig- nate HD Kumaraswamy who will take oath on Wednesday. Rao cannot sit with Congress leaders and watch the ceremony as Congress happens to be the principal Opposition party in Telangana, which he would have to ght with for power in the next Assembly elections. This apart, he is stitching together a federal front which he wants to be an al- ternative to the Congress and the BJP. After meeting Ku- maraswamy, the TRS chief met Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former prime minister HD Deve Gouda and shared views on the political developments taking place post Karnataka elections and the impact of the poll results on national politics. The swearing–in ceremony of Kumaraswamy will be attended by, besides Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leaders and also Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chan- drababu Naidu. Although KCR extended support to JD(S) during the elections, the TRS leaders said that party chief did not want to share the dais with Congress and TDP leaders as the two par- ties are considered arch rivals for Telangana Rashtra Samithi in the T state. Sources said that KCR will invite Kumarswamy to Telangana in June second week and hold talks on the creation of federal front. Telangana Deputy CM Mahmood Ali and TRS lead- ers K Keshava Rao and J San- thosh Kumar accompanied KCR. The ocial reason given by the sources close to the chief minis- ter was that he went to Bengaluru on Tuesday since his schedule for Wednesday is tight. KCR meets, greets HDK in advance Flies out early to avoid running in to his betes noires, Cong, TDP N e w D e l h i : BJP and RSS leaders slammed the cir- cular released by Delhi archbishop calling for prayers ahead of the 2019 elections, terming it as a "direct attack on Indian secularism and democ- racy". Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto, in his letter ad- dressed to all the churches in the capital, called upon the Catholics to start a year-long prayer cam- paign for the "spiritual renewal" of the country ahead of the 2019 general elections. The letter said the country at present is witness- ing "turbulent political atmosphere which poses a threat to the democratic principles enshrined in our Constitution and the secular fabric of our na- tion". "As we look forward towards 2019, when we will have new government, let us begin a prayer campaign for our country from May 13, 2018," the circular read. BJP leader Shaina NC criticised the circular say- ing that it was wrong to instigate communities and to suggest them to vote for one party. "Wrong to try and instigate castes or communities. You can tell them to vote for the right candidate or party but to suggest to vote for one party and not another and term yourself as secular is unfortunate," she said. RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha termed the move as a "direct attack on Indian secularism and democ- racy" and attacked the Archbishop, saying bishops are accountable to the Pope and not India. "Another big reason for this is after the formation of the Modi government, church-oriented NGOs, received less money due to stricter laws. The Church organisations used to take this money for a variety of cause but in reality, utilise this only for religious conversions. They want a government to be made so that their conversion business our- ishes," Sinha added. Reacting to the letter, Union Home Minister Ra- jnath Singh said India is one of those countries where minorities are safe and no one is allowed to discriminate on the basis of caste and religion. RSS slams Archbishop’s ‘pray for 2019 poll’ letter Rajnath says minorities safe C o n t i n u e d f r o m P 1 The Ministry suggested air pas- sengers should be able to avail full refunds and additional compensa- tion for ight delays and cancella- tions. The new air passenger charter seeks to amend current norms for charges incurred by travellers on cancellations and rescheduling of air travel, among other things. However, the new compensation structure will ap- ply only if it is found that the ight delay or cancellation was caused by the airline concerned. "If a ight is cancelled and it is the air- lines' fault, then the passenger has to be compensated or ticket has to be refunded. The passenger will be compensated in various ways," said Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation. The new norms are expected to be notied by July 15 after public comments on the draft charter have been sought by the Ministry of Civil Aviation within a month. As per the proposed entitlements, pas- sengers will get full refunds, ad- ditional compensation and more in case an airline is found to be at fault for the delay or ight cancel- lation. AirSewa proposal The passenger charter also al- lowed domestic and international airlines to oer internet services and mobile services on-board an aircraft in Indian airspace pro- vided following security require- ments are met: Internet services can be pro- vided from the moment a plane takes oand personal electronic devices (PED) have to be put on ight mode Mobile services can be allowed only when an aircraft is over an altitude of 3,000 metres All approvals have been re- cently provided and now in- terested parties may apply for licenses and initiate necessary procedures The new ‘AirSewa’ proposal is in public domain for the public to put in comments or sugges- tions before the government no- ties the measures. Full refund on ight delays, cancellations

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Page 1: 6 NEWS · the State government Mission Kakatiya and stated that so far 18,000 tanks were restored in the State with Rs 3,000 crore during the last three years and an ayacut of 10

NEWS6 HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY 23 MAY 2018

OUR BUREAU

Hyderabad: Irrigation MinisterT Harish Rao urged the IndianWater Council (IWC) to recom-mend the Government of Indiato link Koyna Dam water back-wards to Krishna River. The Min-ister stated that more than 100TMC of water from Koyna Damin Maharashtra was going wasteinto sea after Hydel power gen-eration.

Harish Rao was addressing the‘National Convention on Rejuve-nation of Krishna River’ organ-ised by Telangana Water Re-sources DevelopmentCorporation (TWRDC) here atVishweshwaraya Bhavan onTuesday. Rao said that Koynadam was constructed for Hydropower generation on KrishnaRiver in Maharashtra. “After

power generation more than 100TMC of water is flowing into Ara-bian Sea. The Krishna water isflowing outside the basinwhereas basin areas are starvingfor irrigation and drinking water.The Convention can discuss thisaspect and suggest ways andmeans to divert Koyna Dam wa-ters back to Krishna River,” Har-ish Rao said.

The Minister said that upperKrishna Sates may release envi-ronmental flows from their dams

to protect flora, fauna and aquaticlife of river which will also helpin rejuvenation of Krishna River.By diverting the water to Krishnabasin, five times more electricitycan be produced, he added.

Stating that River Krishna wasthe fourth biggest in the countryand which was fast drying up, theMinister said his government

would extend full support for theprogramme taken up by IWC un-der the leadership of RajenderSingh. The Minister explainedabout the flagship programme ofthe State government MissionKakatiya and stated that so far18,000 tanks were restored in theState with Rs 3,000 crore duringthe last three years and an ayacut

of 10 lakh acres were broughtback into irrigation under minorirrigation sector. In Krishnabasin about 6,000 tanks were re-stored with an amount of aboutRs 950 crores in the last fouryears. Now fourth stage of Mis-sion Kakatiya programme is be-ing continued, he added. Groundwater levels increased by 10 m in

the State due to the increasedstorage capacity and retention ofwater in the tanks for longer pe-riods, he added.

He further said that by theconstruction of Kaleshwaramproject, Godavari River would geta new life and out of 500 kmstretch of river in Telangana, 275km of Godavari River would berejuvenated. Government hadalso formed Musi River FrontDevelopment Corporation andManair River on Godavari basin.

The Minister said that the gov-ernment had completed four on-going projects in Mahbubnagardistrict and brought 6.5 lakhacres into irrigation and filled700 tanks in the district. “Wehave seen a tremendous changein the villages and reverse migra-tion is taking place,” said theMinister. He also talked aboutMission Bhagiratha projectwhich aims to provide water se-curity to each citizen of the State.

Waterman of India RajendraSingh said, “what Harish Rao hadsaid today, I have been saying fora long time.” Singh said that re-juvenation of rivers was the most

needed thing in the 21st Century.He echoed the statements of theIrrigation Minister on KoynaDam and stated that if the waterbrought to Krishna River is noth-ing but recycling of the water itwould help in increasing ecolog-ical flow.

Rajendra Singh said that In-dian judiciary cannot solve theconfrontation on water becausethe administrators and politicscreate conflicts. Solution can beachieved if e�orts are put in be-yond the boundaries, he added.He stressed on the need to havevarious groups including educa-tional institutions, civil societyand people who are striving tosave saving rivers work together.He also stressed on the need forriver literacy and said that unlessthere is no knowledge about riverscience there cannot be a talk onriver rights.

Health Minister C LaxmaReddy, TWRDC Chairman VPrakash, experts in water conser-vation Vikram Soni, World WaterCouncil Governor Prithvi RajSingh and others also spoke atthe convention.

Minister urges theConvention to discussand suggest ways to

divert Koyna Dam waters back to

Krishna River

Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao observes that ifupper Krishna States release environmental flowsfrom their dams then they can protect flora, fauna

and aquatic life of river which will also help inrejuvenation of Krishna River

Harish for linking Koyna Dam to Krishna river

Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao addressing National Convention on Rejuvenation of Krishna River inHyderabad on Tuesday

Continued from P1Thousands of local residents

have been protesting for morethan three months against theSterlite copper smelting plant andits reported expansion but com-plained that the state governmenthad not responded to their de-mands. They had intensifiedprotests demanding closure of theplant after reports came in thatthe group was seeking licence forexpansion as the initial 25-year li-cence comes to an end.

About 20,000 people gatheredat the protest site and stormed theDistrict Collector's o�ce, vandal-

ising government property.Senior Tamil Nadu minister

Jayakumar said the police didn'thave an option but to open firesince the protests had turned "ex-tremely violent". The police firingwas unavoidable, he said.

MK Stalin of the oppositionDMK blamed the state govern-ment for the violence, saying thatpeople had been protesting peace-fully for so long but the adminis-tration did not attempt to addressthe concerns of the people. Theplant should be shut down, Stalinsaid.

Actor-politician Kamal Haasan

made a similar point, "Citizensare not criminals... They are theones who lose their lives," Haasan,who had earlier participated inthe peaceful protests against theplant, said. "It is the negligence ofthe government... The govern-ment ignored peaceful protests,"he said.

In March 2013, hundreds ofpeople su�ered breathing di�-culty, nausea and throat infectionfollowing an alleged gas leak fromthe plant. Though the plant wasordered to shut down followingallegations of violating pollutioncontrol norms, the National

Green Tribunal had ultimately al-lowed it to be reopened.

The same year in another casespearheaded by MDMK chiefVaiko, the Supreme Court hadslapped a 100 crore fine on theplant for polluting over the years.However, at that time Sterlite, runby the Vedanta group, hadclaimed it adheres to pollutioncontrol norms.

Sterlite began operations in1996. It now employs about 1,000people full time and about 2,000on contract. It also provides indi-rect employment opportunity foraround 25,000 people.

Anti-Sterlite rally turns violent, 10 killed in firing

Continued from P1At present, vacant state cadre

Group I posts are being filledthrough direct recruitment andpromotions in the ratio of 40: 60respectively. The employees’unions have been demanding tobring down the direct recruit-ment of the Group I posts to 20per cent from the existing 40 percent facilitating promotion forthe lower cadre o�cials withtheir seniority.

At present, all the state cadreposts like RDO, DSP, CTO, RTO,Excise Superintendent, DistrictRegistrar (Cooperative soci-eties), DPO and so on were exist-ing in 35 departments in thestate.

The employees’ unions alsobrought to the notice of the gov-

ernment that state cadre postsare open to all including non-lo-cals, who pursued Telugu as sec-ond language, to compete in theexam and get selected for anyGroup I post. This provision hascome as tough challenge forTelangana locals to compete withnon-locals including from theneighbouring Andhra to get se-lected in the competitive exam.

After bifurcation of AndhraPradesh, not a single notificationfor Group I posts was issued,Telangana Employees unionPresident A Padma Chary, saidthat before issuing notification,the unions were demanding re-duction in the state cadre postsand to convert them into multizonal posts. Once the state cadreposts are made as multi zonal

posts, he said locals will get op-portunity to get selected withoutany competition from non-locals.The increased quota of the statecadre posts through promotionswill help the senior o�cials torender service as state o�cers.

The committee is seriouslydiscussing the issues raised bythe employees’ unions on statecadre posts and will come to aconclusion before finalising thecreation of new zones. Theunions were demanding the cre-ation of four new zones in addi-tion to the existing two and two multi zones in the state en-suring the protection of the serv-ices of the existing employeesand also put to rest the problemsto be raised in the new selectionsin future.

‘Slash Group I direct postsLion’s share for Congin Karnataka CabinetContinued from P1

Gandhi, however, left the de-cisions on these issues to thestate leaders, said Venugopal,who was present at the meeting.

The Congress and the JD(S)had announced a last-minutetie-up during the counting ofvotes to keep the BJP out ofpower in the state. Though to-gether, the two parties couldcommand majority in the As-sembly, the BJP, as the singlelargest party, was invited toform the government by Gover-nor Vajubhai Vala. BS Yeddyu-rappa, who took oath on Thurs-day after a hectic appeal by theCongress and a midnight hear-ing in the Supreme Court,stepped down minutes beforeSaturday's trust vote, whichmany expected him to lose.

Green signal for transfersContinued from P1

Under the Transfer policy, spouses working in far-away locations, widows,physically challenged and the o�cials retiring in two or three years will be givenpriority in transfers. Though seniority and service are taken into considerationfor the transfers, the grievances of the above mentioned categories will be takeninto consideration first and address the same instantly. It is mandatory that theo�cials should seek transfer if they completed two years in service in the existingpost and location. The new policy will facilitate the transfer of 50 per cent oftotal sta� at one go, o�cials said, adding that the new provision will help transferthe o�cials en masse, particularly in the Police and Excise and Prohibition de-partments. Thousands of the applications seeking transfers on spouse groundsand the o�cials working for years in the same locations from these two depart-ments were pending since years. The heads of the Panchayat Raj, Rural Develop-ment and Municipal Administration and Urban Developments have already beenbusy preparing the lists of o�cials to be transferred. The committee recom-mended to the government not to take up the transfer of teachers working inSchool Education department until the issue of the uniform service rules casepending before High Court is resolved. The government was asked to appoint alegal expert to dispose o� the court's status quo on transfers at the earliest.

OUR BUREAU

Hyderabad: In a bid to avoid em-barrassing moments of having torub shoulders with Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi, Telan-gana Chief Minister K Chan-drasekhar Rao flew one day in ad-vance to Bengaluru and greetedKarnataka Chief Minister desig-nate HD Kumaraswamy who willtake oath on Wednesday.

Rao cannot sit with Congressleaders and watch the ceremonyas Congress happens to be theprincipal Opposition party inTelangana, which he would haveto fight with for power in the nextAssembly elections. This apart,

he is stitching together a federalfront which he wants to be an al-ternative to the Congress and theBJP. After meeting Ku-maraswamy, the TRS chief metJanata Dal (Secular) leader andformer prime minister HD DeveGouda and shared views on thepolitical developments takingplace post Karnataka electionsand the impact of the poll resultson national politics.

The swearing–in ceremony ofKumaraswamy will be attendedby, besides Rahul Gandhi, seniorCongress leaders and also AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N Chan-drababu Naidu. Although KCRextended support to JD(S) during

the elections, the TRS leaderssaid that party chief did not wantto share the dais with Congressand TDP leaders as the two par-ties are considered arch rivals forTelangana Rashtra Samithi in theT state. Sources said that KCRwill invite Kumarswamy toTelangana in June second weekand hold talks on the creation offederal front. Telangana DeputyCM Mahmood Ali and TRS lead-ers K Keshava Rao and J San-thosh Kumar accompanied KCR.

The o�cial reason given by thesources close to the chief minis-ter was that he went to Bengaluruon Tuesday since his schedule forWednesday is tight.

KCR meets, greets HDK in advanceFlies out early to avoid running in to his betes noires, Cong, TDP

New Delhi: BJP and RSS leaders slammed the cir-cular released by Delhi archbishop calling forprayers ahead of the 2019 elections, terming it as a"direct attack on Indian secularism and democ-racy". Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto, in his letter ad-dressed to all the churches in the capital, calledupon the Catholics to start a year-long prayer cam-paign for the "spiritual renewal" of the countryahead of the 2019 general elections.

The letter said the country at present is witness-ing "turbulent political atmosphere which poses athreat to the democratic principles enshrined inour Constitution and the secular fabric of our na-tion". "As we look forward towards 2019, when wewill have new government, let us begin a prayercampaign for our country from May 13, 2018," thecircular read.

BJP leader Shaina NC criticised the circular say-ing that it was wrong to instigate communities andto suggest them to vote for one party. "Wrong to tryand instigate castes or communities. You can tell

them to vote for the right candidate or party but tosuggest to vote for one party and not another andterm yourself as secular is unfortunate," she said.

RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha termed the move asa "direct attack on Indian secularism and democ-racy" and attacked the Archbishop, saying bishopsare accountable to the Pope and not India.

"Another big reason for this is after the formationof the Modi government, church-oriented NGOs,received less money due to stricter laws. TheChurch organisations used to take this money for avariety of cause but in reality, utilise this only forreligious conversions. They want a government tobe made so that their conversion business flour-ishes," Sinha added.

Reacting to the letter, Union Home Minister Ra-jnath Singh said India is one of those countrieswhere minorities are safe and no one is allowed todiscriminate on the basis of caste and religion.

RSS slams Archbishop’s ‘pray for 2019 poll’ letterRajnath says minorities safe

Continued from P1The Ministry suggested air pas-

sengers should be able to avail fullrefunds and additional compensa-tion for flight delays and cancella-tions. The new air passengercharter seeks to amend currentnorms for charges incurred bytravellers on cancellations andrescheduling of air travel, amongother things. However, the newcompensation structure will ap-ply only if it is found that the flightdelay or cancellation was causedby the airline concerned. "If aflight is cancelled and it is the air-lines' fault, then the passenger hasto be compensated or ticket hasto be refunded. The passenger willbe compensated in various ways,"

said Jayant Sinha, Minister ofState for Civil Aviation. The newnorms are expected to be notifiedby July 15 after public commentson the draft charter have beensought by the Ministry of CivilAviation within a month. As perthe proposed entitlements, pas-sengers will get full refunds, ad-ditional compensation and morein case an airline is found to be atfault for the delay or flight cancel-lation.

AirSewa proposal The passenger charter also al-

lowed domestic and internationalairlines to o�er internet servicesand mobile services on-board anaircraft in Indian airspace pro-

vided following security require-ments are met:�� Internet services can be pro-

vided from the moment aplane takes o� and personalelectronic devices (PED) haveto be put on flight mode

��Mobile services can be allowedonly when an aircraft is overan altitude of 3,000 metres

�� All approvals have been re-cently provided and now in-terested parties may apply forlicenses and initiate necessaryprocedures

The new ‘AirSewa’ proposal isin public domain for the publicto put in comments or sugges-tions before the government no-tifies the measures.

Full refund on flight delays, cancellations

Page 2: 6 NEWS · the State government Mission Kakatiya and stated that so far 18,000 tanks were restored in the State with Rs 3,000 crore during the last three years and an ayacut of 10

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