Cabinet expansion in the offing
Another cabinet expansion could be in store after the Budget session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly next month. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had recently inducted three new faces into his council of ministers. On expected lines, it’s quite likely that one or two of the minister of states might be promoted, besides the induction of possibly two more faces. While one of the new faces could be from the politically crucial scheduled caste, the other face could be from Indore which has so far no representation despite eight MLAs.
Shocker at BHEL campus
Burglaries at closed houses in the massive Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) campus in Bhopal aren’t new. But just a few hour before the lunar eclipse on January 31, a mother of two kids escaped molestation bid by teenagers in her house at the BHEL campus situated close to Vijay Market. Four teenagers, aged between 14 and 16 years, hurled a stone at the woman. The teenagers verbally abused her and tried to storm inside but the woman’s husband arrived luckily for lunch. Hearing the woman cry for help, her husband caught hold of one of the teenagers. Soon two more teenagers were caught from the adjoining lane, but the police allowed them to go after warning.
Toddler mauled to death by stray dogs
Residents of Krishna Colony locality in city’s Gautam Nagar area woke up to a shocker on February 1. A two-year-old toddler was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs. The toddler who was playing near the door of his house suddenly crawled out, when the stray dogs in the locality dragged the toddler to a nearby nullah and fatally bit him. According to residents of Krishna Colony, despite around 250 applications to remove stray dogs, Bhopal Municipal Corporation didn’t do anything to concrete to address their concerns and the result was the death of the toddler.
Sindhi migrants march on city streets for national identity
Members of at least 24 Sindhi panchayats carried out a protest march in the city on Sunday questioning why they haven’t been given Indian nationality, despite having migrated to Bhopal from Pakistan decades ago. “Our businesses are being targeted for no reason and the government is not working for the community,” alleged a panchayat leader. They also said the community land on lease at Bairagarh was not being renewed.
Bird census spots 50 avian species
For the first time, Asian water bird census was conducted under the joint aegis of Van Vihar National Park and the Bhopal Birds group on January 28. The areas selected for the mini-census, included Bishankhedi, Goragaon and the Barkhedanathu village. The report summing up the census findings will be sent a global organisation, the Wetlands International.