Ghaziabad municipal board passes Rs 1477 crore budget
Ghaziabad, May 5 (IANS): The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation on Friday passed a Rs 1,477 crore budget in its board meeting. City mayor Ashu Verma who chaired the meeting said out of the total Rs 1,477 crore budget Rs 851.53 crore income would be generated during the current financial year. He said Rs 625.55 crore would be invested by the corporation for public services including water supply, streetlights and public works.
SSB seizes 2.5 kg opium worth Rs 50 lakh
Lucknow, May 5 (IANS): The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has seized 2.5 kg opium, valued at Rs 50 lakh in the international market, from the India-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district, an official said on Friday. The 42nd battalion of the border guarding force also arrested a Nepali woman from Rupaidiha in Bahraich who was carrying the contraband, the SSB official said. He said that the SSB troopers carried out the raid on a tip-off on Wednesday evening in a joint operation with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
2.2 crore LPG connections given to BPL women
New Delhi, May 5 (IANS): Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said over two crore LPG connections have been provided to women below the poverty line (BPL) under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana (PMUY). “Under the scheme, which took off on May 1, 2016, we had a target of providing LPG connections to 5 crore BPL women within three years. In the first year the target was 1.5 crore. Today it has completed the target of 2.2 crore,” Pradhan told a press conference here. The minister said apart from LPG connections under the Ujjwala scheme, around 1.25 crore connections were provided to households living above the poverty line.
Over 100 shops gutted in Maa Bamleshwari Temple fire in Chhattisgarh
Raipur/Rajnandgaon, May 5 (IANS): Over 100 shops were gutted in a massive fire that broke out on Friday morning in Maa Bamleshwari Temple in Dongargarh of Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh, police said. The shops were located in the vicinity of the temple. There was, however, no information of any casualty in the fire, he added. The temple being located on a hilltop also delayed the fire-fighting operation, they said.
Toll rises to 14 in UP road accident
Lucknow, May 5 (IANS): The toll in the Etah road accident in Uttar Pradesh early Friday morning has risen to 14 with the death of the four persons who were critically injured, police said. The incident occurred when a mini truck carrying over 40 passengers turned turtle and fell into a canal in Sarayneem on the Agra-Jalesar road while returning from a pre-wedding event. Ten persons died instantly while two dozen were injured. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh each to the dependents of those killed and Rs 50,000 to those critically injured in the accident from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, (PMNRF).
‘Indian tourists in US spent over $13 billion in 2016’
Kolkata, May 5 (IANS): Indian tourists in the US spent more than $13 billion in 2016 as a US export in travel and tourism sector, a US embassy official said here on Friday. “It looks like that in 2016 Indian tourists in the US spent more than $13 billion as a US export in travel and tourism sector creating or supporting some 62,500 jobs in the US. The 2016 figures are draft figures. The final numbers will be released in June,” Counsellor for Commercial Affairs, Patrick O. Santillo said here. He was speaking at the “Indo-US Promotion of Travel and Tourism” conference organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the US Consulate General.
6 arrested for drinking in open at Goa beach
Panaji, May 5 (IANS): The North Goa district police on Thursday, arrested six persons, for drinking and creating a nuisance in public in the popular beach village of Calangute. The arrest follows instructions from Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Kartik Kashyap, who on Wednesday, had ordered a crackdown on drinking alcohol in open areas. The accused have been booked under section 34(iv) of the Indian Police Act.
