BJP seeks ban on Congress spokesperson
In an unusual demand, the state BJP has asked all news-channels (and media) to boycott Congress spokesperson Vikas Tiwari for the alleged unacceptable language he used during a recent TV debate. Tiwari however, was not ready to back down. “It’s strange. What right does the BJP have to demand such a ban from media houses?” The state unit of the saffron party also decided to refrain from participating in any TV debate that Tiwari was a part of.
While the BJP’s demand to the media is unusual, several such political controversies have come up in various states in the run up to the culminaton of the general elections — which started on April 11. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Bahujan Samajr Party chief Mayawati, Samajwadi party leader Azam Khan and the BJP’s candidate from Bhopal, Sadhvi Pragya, have all been censured by the EC.
Laurels for Swami Vivekananda Airport
The Swami Vivekananda airport in Chhattisgarh’s capital came out on top of the customer satisfaction index from among 51 non-metro airports surveyed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The airport secured a score of 4.46 on the scale of the 5-point survey. While Udaipur airport grabbed the second spot, Trichy airport took the third. “Our next priority will be to get the services of more airline carriers and newer destinations from Raipur,” said Rakesh R Sahay, the director of the Raipur airport. The airport is the 29th busiest in the country and got an additional integrated terminal in 2012 in order to expand its passenger handling capacity.
EVMs, VVPATs sealed
After the completion of all three phases of voting for the 11 parliamentary seats in Chhattisgarh, the EVMs and VVPAT devices used for the exercise have now been sealed in strong rooms at counting centres in each region. Senior district administration officers, district election officers and observers, besides the representatives of different political parties, monitored the process of sealing. The machines will only be taken out of the rooms on the day of counting in order to ensure the integrity of the process. The counting will be held on May 23.
JSPL delivers ahead of time
Chhattisgarh-based Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) further cemented its position in the books of the Indian Railways when it delivered a shipment of railway tracks to the public carrier ahead of the scheduled time. The move comes as somewhat of a challenge to the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), which used to supply the IR through its steel plant in Bhilai. JSPL, the only private manufacturer of railway tracks in the country, had bagged the R2,500 crore contract and was to supply 97,400 tonnes of rails to the railways over the period of one year. The company managed to complete the order on 23 April 2019, about four months ahead of the deadline. It operates a 1 Mn tonne per annum rail mill at its 3.6 MTPA integrated steel plant in Raigarh.