A voter turnout of 56.42 per cent was recorded in eight constituencies of Maharashtra in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Friday, officials said, reported news agency PTI. Voting was held between 7 am and 6 pm in Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim seats in Vidarbha (eastern Maharashtra) and Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani constituencies in the central Marathwada region. Election officials said Wardha recorded 62.65 per cent turnout, Amravati 57.46, Yavatmal-Washim 56.77, Parbhani 53.79, Akola 54.12, Nanded 59.57, Buldhana 55.88 and Hingoli 52.03, reported PTI. Final figures are likely to be updated by Saturday, they added. No untoward incident was reported during polling in these constituencies and the process went off largely in a peaceful manner, they said, reported PTI. At Rampuri in Nanded Lok Sabha constituency, a 26-year-old man allegedly damaged an electronic voting machine (EVM) by hitting it with an iron object when he came to cast his vote around 4 pm, a police official said. He was detained and during his questioning, he told the police he wanted a pro-farmer and pro-labourer government, he said. In Hingoli, 39 EVMs were found to be faulty during the mock drill carried out by authorities ahead of voting and these were replaced, the official said. According to officials, there were a total of 204 candidates in the fray -- 21 in Buldhana, 15 in Akola, 37 in Amravati, 24 in Wardha, 17 in Yavatmal-Washim, 33 in Hingoli, 23 in Nanded and 34 in Parbhani. As many as 1.49 crore voters (77,21,374 men, 72,04,106 women and 432 persons from third gender category) were eligible to cast ballots across 16,589 polling centres. Former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who recently switched over from the Congress to the BJP, voted along with his family members in the initial hours in Nanded. On April 19, five seats in eastern Vidarbha ¿ Nagpur, Ramtek, Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondia and Gadchiroli-Chimur ¿ went to polls, registering a voter turnout of 63.70 per cent. Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim and Hingoli are seeing a direct contest between the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT). The undivided Shiv Sena contested the last general elections in the state in alliance with the BJP. It split in 2022 after Shinde led a rebellion, toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and joined hands with the BJP to become the CM. In Buldhana, sitting Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav is pitted against Narendra Khedekar of Sena (UBT). The Shiv Sena has nominated Rajashri Patil in Yavatmal-Washim, dropping sitting MP Bhavana Gawli. Patil is pitted against Sanjay Deshmukh of the Thackeray-led party. In Hingoli, Rajashtri Patil's husband and sitting MP Hemant Patil was replaced by the Shiv Sena, which gave the ticket to Baburao Kohalikar. The Sena nominee is contesting against Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of Sena (UBT). In Parbhani, Mahadev Jankar of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha is contesting against MP Sanjay Jadhav, nominated by the Shiv Sena (UBT). Jankar has been backed by the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising BJP, Shiv Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Dr B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, who heads the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), has fielded candidates in seven seats, including himself from Akola. His brother Anandraj Ambedkar is in the fray in Amravati as a Republican Sena nominee. In Akola, the contest is between Anup Dhotre of BJP and Abhay Patil of Congress, with Prakash Ambedkar as the third candidate. Amravati is seeing a battle between MP Navneet Rana, now contesting as a BJP nominee, against Balwant Wankhede of Congress. Dinesh Bub is the Prahar Janshakti Party candidate. The Prahar party, which has two legislators in the assembly, is an ally of the ruling coalition. In Wardha, the fight is between former Congress MLA Amar Kale, contesting the Lok Sabha elections 2024 on the symbol of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) - "a man blowing turha" (a traditional trumpet) - against BJP MP Ramdas Tadas. In Nanded, BJP MP Pratap Chikhalikar is pitted against Congress nominee Vasant Chavan. Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh's 80, will vote in three more phases between May 7 and May 20. (With inputs from PTI)
27 April,2024 08:45 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentThe sessions court in Pune has directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Maharashtra Police to investigate allegations against IT major Cognizant Technologies that it paid a bribe through a contractor to local government officials to secure necessary permits and environmental clearances for its campus at Hinjawadi on the city's outskirts, reported news agency PTI. The bribe was allegedly paid between 2013 and 2014. The order was passed on April 19, on a complaint filed by Delhi-based environmental activist and retired police officer Prit Pal Singh through his lawyer Pratik Rajopadhye. The complaint relied on proceedings of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA against Cognizant Technology Private Ltd's parent firm Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, USA regarding alleged bribing and violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Singh had requested the Pune court to direct the ACB to register an offence under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act against Cognizant, its Indian construction contractor, and Manikandan Rammurthy, former vice president (administration and real estate officer, Cognizant, India), reported PTI. Additional Sessions Judge S B Hedaoo stated in the order that as the reference to the alleged transaction was found in the US SEC order, there was sufficient material to forward the complaint to the ACB Pune. Unless an offence was registered against the unknown government officers involved the alleged bribery, "this matter would not move even inch further", the court observed, adding that without an urgent investigation, evidence in the company's computers may vanish. "Complaint is forwarded to Anti Corruption Bureau, Pune under section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure for investigation. Anti- Corruption Bureau, Pune is directed to investigate these allegations and submit a report," the order said, reported PTI. As per the complaint, the contractor firm which constructed the software firm's Hinjawadi and Chennai offices informed it that bribes were required to be paid to government officials at both places to obtain necessary permits and environmental clearances. Cognizant, USA and its Indian subsidiary allegedly agreed to this, the complaint said. In 2013-2014, USD 7,70,000 were reimbursed by the Indian subsidiary company to the contractor firm (which had allegedly paid the bribe of the same amount on its behalf) with regard to the Pune campus, the complaint claimed, citing the US SEC order, reported PTI. "Some time in 2016, in the internal audit of parent company at U.S.A. this fraud was detected and as against this bribe amount so pumped up to India, some fake vouchers and bills of non-existing work were raised to cover up the bribe transaction. The parent company in U.S.A. conveyed this fact to Securities Exchange Commission, U.S.A. Before this statutory authority, the Department of Justice of U.S.A. prosecuted the parent company and parent company admitted its offence and undertook to pay the penalty of 25 million dollars to U. S. government by entering into a settlement of deferment of prosecution as per U.S.A. law. The order to that effect was passed by SEC, USA on 15/02/2019," the Pune court's order stated. When contacted, Cognizant said in a statement that it does not comment on sub-judice matters and it was "committed to complying with the law", reported PTI. (With inputs from PTI)
27 April,2024 08:40 AM IST | Pune | PTIAfter resigning from the campaign committee of the Congress party as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra didn't field a single Muslim candidate in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the party senior leader Muhammed Arif 'Naseem' Khan said that the people and organisations of minority communities are upset and angry with the party's decision, reported news agency ANI. Talking to ANI, Khan said that it has been Congress's ideology from the old days to take everyone along, irrespective of their community. "In Maharashtra, there is a lot of anger in people and organisations of minority communities, because there is not a single candidate from minority communities in 48 Lok Sabha seats. I am also angry because it has been Congress's ideology from the old days to take everyone along, irrespective of whether they're from the minority community, OBC, Maratha community, SC or ST," the party leader said. He further said that the people of minority communities expect their voices to be represented in the Lok Sabha but this time it's not happening and thus they are upset, reported ANI. "There has been a tradition of giving representatives for every community. Maharashtra has always remained a programming state. Abdul Rahman Antula was a Member of Parliament from Maharashtra. People of minority communities expect their voices to be represented in the Lok Sabha which is not happening this time and thus they are upset," Khan said. "What is the reason there is no candidate from minority communities? If I go to people for campaigning they will ask questions and I don't have answers so I have decided I won't campaign for the third, fourth and fifth phases of elections," he added. Earlier, in the letter referred to Congress President, Khan thanked Mallikarjun Kharge for naming him as one of the star campaigners for the polls and said that he won't be campaigning for the party in the Lok Sabha elections 2024. MVA is the coalition of three parties in Maharashtra -- Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). "From a total of 48 seats in Maharashtra, MVA has not nominated a single Muslim candidate in Maharashtra," he stated in the letter. The senior leader said that many Muslim organizations, leaders, and party workers in the state were expecting Congress to field at least 1 candidate but "unfortunately" the party hasn't nominated a single Muslim candidate, reported ANI. "Now they are asking...Congress ko Muslim vote chahiye...candidate kyu nahi (Congress wants Muslim votes, but why not candidates)?" Khan stated. Stating that he is "upset' with the party's "unfair decision", the Congress leader said that he fulfilled his election responsibilities in several states -- Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra and others -- whenever the party asked him to. "Due to all these reasons, I will not be able to face and I have no answers to the Muslims and other Muslim organizations in Maharashtra who always raise this issue...Therefore, I have decided not to campaign for the party during the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and also resign from the campaign committee of the Maharashtra Lok Sabha election 2024," the letter further added. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Muslim Voter Council of India wrote a letter to Mallikarjun Kharge, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Chandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and expressed their "disappointment" over not fielding Muslim candidates in the Lok Sabha elections. Adbul Bari Khan, Chief Convenor, of the Muslim Voter Council of India, said that the polling for the first phase has been completed and we are looking for the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh phases. The MVA recently announced its seat-sharing arrangement for Maharashtra's 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second-largest contributor to the lower house of Parliament, after Uttar Pradesh with 80 seats. Under the arrangement, Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest 21 seats, Congress will fight on 17 seats and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) will put up candidates in 10 seats. The elections in the state will be held in the state in five phases from April 19 to May 20. Votes will be counted on June 4. (With inputs from ANI)
27 April,2024 08:30 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentA voter turnout of 53.51 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in eight constituencies of Maharashtra in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday, officials said.Voting was held between 7 am and 6 pm in Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim seats in Vidarbha (eastern Maharashtra) and Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani constituencies in the central Marathwada region. Till 5 pm, Wardha recorded 56.66 per cent turnout, Amravati 54.50, Yavatmal-Washim 54.04, Parbhani 53.79, Akola 52.49, Nanded 52.47, Buldhana 52.24 and Hingoli 52.03, election officials said. No untoward incident was reported during polling in these constituencies and the process went off largely in a peaceful manner, they said. At Rampuri in Nanded Lok Sabha constituency, a 26-year-old man allegedly damaged an electronic voting machine (EVM) by hitting it with an iron object when he came to cast his vote around 4 pm, a police officer said. The man has been identified as Bhayasaheb Yedke. Yedke was detained and during his questioning, he told the police that he wanted a pro-farmer and pro-labourer government in power, he said. According to officials, there were a total of 204 candidates in the fray—21 in Buldhana, 15 in Akola, 37 in Amravati, 24 in Wardha, 17 in Yavatmal-Washim, 33 in Hingoli, 23 in Nanded and 34 in Parbhani. As many as 1.49 crore voters (77,21,374 men, 72,04,106 women and 432 persons from third gender category) were eligible to cast ballots across 16,589 polling centres. Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh, will vote in three more phases between May 7 and May 20. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
27 April,2024 07:28 AM IST | Mumbai | AgenciesThere is dismay and anger among BJP workers in Mumbai North about fake news circulating in certain sections of the media that Piyush Goyal, the party's candidate for the constituency, visited a fish market with a cloth on his nose. They are angry at what they say are attempts by the Opposition to spread a malicious defamatory campaign against Goyal about an incident, which, ironically, never even happened. The party believes that this concocted piece has been planted and is being spread with a vicious agenda of maligning the motives and intent of Goyal. Incidentally, the news report neither mentions the date of his alleged visit nor its time. Insiders say that Goyal’s campaign agenda is marked on a minute-to-minute basis and every movement is mapped according to a plan, photographed and recorded. They are 100 per cent sure that the report is fake and planted by vested interestsWhile the issue of deepfakes of actors Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh has barely died down, this malicious fake news, they say, is clearly intended to sow seeds of ill feeling in the minds of sections of voters against the BJP candidate. Those in the know of local politics think that at a time when the party and the candidate have been making rounds of fishing villages and interacting with the local community to share information about scores of schemes being launched for the benefit of fishing communities and the fisheries sector, this kind of fake news is an attempt to create some kind of misunderstanding among the local population. They say the ‘news’ is concocted, fictitious and blatantly insulting to the being of Goyal.
27 April,2024 07:25 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentMaharashtra Congress working president Arif Naseem Khan has resigned as the party’s star campaigner because neither his party nor MVA have fielded representatives from the Muslim community in the Lok Sabha polls. Khan is also upset because the Congress ignored him for the Mumbai North Central constituency. The Congress had one or two Muslim candidates in the fray till 2019, but this year there are none. The Congress has one constituency—Mumbai North—still without a candidate, but a Muslim is unlikely to put up a good fight there, whereas North Central is said to be favourable ground because of a large Muslim presence of 6.50 lakh. Khan’s office said his candidature was decided two months ago but changed on Thursday. Khan said in a letter to the party high command, “Canvassing as a star campaigner, I have no explanation to offer to Muslims about the community not getting representation at any of 48 seats the Congress and MVA are contesting in Maharashtra. I don’t want to campaign because I can’t answer their questions.” On Thursday, the Congress had declared the city party chief, and four-time MLA, Varsha Gaikwad as its official candidate from North Central. Other than Arif Naseem Khan, Bhai Jagtap was also an aspirant. Muslims, who have a larger presence here, expected a ticket for Khan, a former MLA from Chandivli, which falls under the North Central constituency. In a letter to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Khan said he will not campaign for party candidates for remaining phases of the Lok Sabha polls and is also resigning from the state Congress campaign committee. The former state minister said the MVA, of which the Congress is a key constituent, has not nominated a single Muslim candidate in Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats. “I have no answers to Muslims and their organisations in Maharashtra raising such issues [not fielding candidate from the community]. Therefore, I have decided not to campaign for the party during the Lok Sabha elections 2024,” he said.
27 April,2024 07:23 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentThe imposition of the goods and service tax (GST) on agricultural products, unpredictable selling prices and work done by his party during the pandemic are key issues that Sena (UBT) candidate Omprakash Rajenimbalkar is raising to take on his Mahayuti counterpart in this constituency. Rajenimbalkar, one of the five Maharashtra Lok Sabha MPs who are with Uddhav Thackeray, is contesting his second general election from Osmanabad. He has been visiting villages in the Osmanabad constituency to inform farmers about how the GST is causing them to suffer financial losses. “When the price of agricultural produce increases, the government starts importing to keep the price under control. This is your [farmers’] loss. The price of soya beans had reached Rs 11,000 per quintal. Then the government started importing soya cakes and the price crashed from Rs 4,200 to Rs 4,500. In this, you [farmers] lost one to one and a half lakh rupees behind five acres,” he said. On Friday, Rajenimbalkar visited Hingangaon village in Paranda tehsil. “During the pandemic, I was available over the phone. Was any leader of the Opposition available this way? The work done by the state government at the time [Maha Vikas Aghadi] was remarkable. It benefited one and all,” he said. Carrying the torch Candidates of the Sena (UBT) who are contesting elections with the flaming torch or mashaal symbol, have been facing challenges. “We are promoting the new symbol so that there is no confusion among voters,” Rajenimbalkar told mid-day. He was travelling in a car decorated with flaming torches. While the MP was addressing villagers, at least one party worker held up the symbol to give it visibility. Party workers have also been going door-to-door to spread awareness about it. “Our candidate’s election ticket was fixed, so we started working from the moment we got the new symbol,” said a party functionary. Sunita Kore, who runs a tea shop on the outskirts of Osmanabad, said, “We are impressed with the work done by Thackeray done during the pandemic. We are impressed with the work Rajenimbalkar has done in the past five years. We are aware of the new symbol of the party.” Villagers of Hingangaon said farmers had been suffering due to the low price of agricultural products and the high cost of farming. “I don’t disclose for whom I will vote, but the problems we face definitely factor in our decision,” a villager said. Number crunching There are 20.04 lakh voters in the Osmanabad constituency of which 10.58 lakh are male and 9.46 lakh are women. Marathas account for 35 to 37 per cent of the electorate while 22 per cent are Muslims, 27 to 28 per cent are OBCs and 12 to 15 per cent are Dalits. 20,04,000No. of voters in Osmanabad constituency
27 April,2024 07:18 AM IST | Osmanabad | Sameer SurveIn yet another setback to Ranjeetsinh Naik Nimbalkar, sitting BJP MP and Mahayuti candidate from Madha Lok Sabha constituency, a former Shiv Sena MLA from Karmala Assembly constituency, Narayan Aba Patil, joined NCP (SP) in the presence of Sharad Pawar on Friday. Nimbalkar is contesting against NCP’s Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil. Mohite Patil who had joined BJP just before the 2019 general elections switched from BJP to NCP (SP) before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to contest from Madha constituency. His family holds significant power in Solapur, with his uncle, Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, being a former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. Vijaysinh also rejoined Sharad Pawar’s faction. Meanwhile, Ramraje Nimbalkar, a relative of Ranjeetsinh Naik Nimbalkar, holds influence in the NCP (Ajit Pawar) faction but has refused to campaign for Ranjeetsinh. Supporters hydrating themselves. Pic/Anurag Ahire Reports suggest pressure from Ramraje Nimbalkar’s supporters for him to return to the NCP (SP) and secure a Lok Sabha ticket for his brother Sanjeevraje Nimbalkar. On Friday, a public rally supporting Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil took place in Karmala Assembly constituency. NCP (SP) leaders, including Sharad Pawar, Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, Rohit Pawar, and local MVA leaders, attended the event. Bhushansiha Raje Holkar, a descendant of Ahilyabai Holkar, queen from the Holkar dynasty of Indore, criticised the BJP during his speech, alleging they did nothing for the common people. “We support the candidature of Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil, and we are confident that all our people will vote for him. If you want to save democracy, then we should all stand behind Sharad Pawar saheb,” Holkar said. Despite the scorching summer, many people attended the rally to hear Sharad Pawar. NCP (SP) faction MLA and his grandson Rohit Pawar also criticised the government. He expressed confidence that the people will vote in favour of MVA candidates across the state. Sandip Pawar, a villager who attended the rally, said, “The issue of water is a very serious one in Madha Lok Sabha constituency and there needs to be a solution to this as the livelihood of farmers is dependent on it.” The members associated with Sambhaji Brigade and Raju Shetty’s supporters from Karmala support Madha candidate Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil. Speaking on the occasion, Sharad Pawar, NCP (SP) chief, said, “Modi saheb is ruling like a dictator. Whoever speaks against the government has to go behind bars. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind is put behind bars just because he criticised the government. The need of the hour is to act or else a time will come where you won’t be able to say anything.”
27 April,2024 07:15 AM IST | Mumbai | Ranjeet JadhavMuslims had hoped that the Congress would field a representative from their community, at least in the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency, where they have a number that can impact the election result. The party hadn’t named candidates for the two remaining segments in the state, Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North, till Thursday evening. But as it turned out, it chose Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad for the former seat, ignoring Muslim aspirant and the party’s state working president, Arif Naseem Khan. The development has caused a big uproar and led to Khan resigning as the Congress star campaigner, who was expected to woo Muslims into voting for the party. It is learnt that the Congress chose Gaikwad, an Ambedkarite Marathi Dalit, over a Muslim leader, fearing Hindu-Muslim polarisation not just here, but in other segments of Mumbai and the MMR. However, community leaders refused to buy the logic. Insiders said restive Muslims from across the state had been calling Khan since Thursday evening, demanding to know the reasons for the ‘injustice’. Left with no option, Khan sent his resignation as the star campaigner to the party’s high command on Friday evening. In Maharashtra, the Congress is contesting 17 seats, far less than the previous elections, and without a Muslim candidate. Mumbai North’s nomination is still pending, but Muslims don’t have much of an impact there except for the Malwani pocket where the party has its MLA. Considered Congress’s traditional supporters, Muslim voters matter in 22 Maharashtra Lok Sabha constituencies where they are in the range of 15 to 30 per cent of the entire electorate. Mumbai’s North Central, South and South Central have a sizeable Muslim population. Every fifth individual is from the minority community in Mumbai. Muslims have a significant presence in MMR’s Bhiwandi constituency. The no-Muslim policy of the Congress will certainly negatively impact the MVA’s electoral outcome in the remaining phases of voting. The second phase of voting took place on Friday in eight places, including Muslim-sensitive segments Akola, Amravati, Nanded, Yavatmal-Washim and Parbhani. The first three had Congress candidates. Akola’s minority missed a Muslim Congress candidate this election. Muslim sentiment has been serious ever since the beginning of the ticketing procedure. It created pressure, its leaders lobbied hard but not a single representative was fielded. Nominations for the fifth phase started on Friday. There had been elections in which the Congress’s traditional vote bank was dented, giving rise to some other parties. In Aurangabad, the community had chosen AIMIM over the Congress in 2009 by electing a Muslim as their MP. But it was the Muslim community that had saved the Congress’s face in Mumbai by electing three of them as MLAs. Gaikwad, the fourth one, had received good support from Muslims in Dharavi. Unfortunately, Khan had lost by only 409 votes from Chandivli, which falls under Mumbai North Central. SP and undivided NCP had won one Assembly seat each. Maharashtra Congress general secretary Zakir Ahmed, who was all for Khan’s candidature, shared his sentiment with us. “To mete out such an injustice [to Muslims] is very painful in the state where a Muslim Congress leader had become the CM [Barrister A R Antulay]. The minorities that support the Congress have never ever dreamt that there would be no Muslim candidate in the fray. In North Central, Naseem Khan was the minority’s choice,” said Ahmed. Khan’s office said his candidature was decided two months ago but changed on Thursday. Khan said in a letter to the party high command, “Canvassing as a star campaigner, I have no explanation to offer to Muslims about the community not getting representation at any of 48 seats the Congress and MVA are contesting in Maharashtra. I don’t want to campaign because I can’t answer their questions.” Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
27 April,2024 07:13 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra JoreAt a special lecture arranged by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Padma Shri award winner Dr Abhay Bang highlighted the ill effects of alcohol, stating that it has the capacity to distort elections. In this election, he collaborated with the people of Gadchiroli and took a pledge from all the Lok Sabha candidates to refrain from distributing alcohol for votes. “Alcohol distorts elections. At the grassroots level, they are often driven by alcohol and money. On the eve of polling, men are given huge amounts of drinks so they act against their better judgment,” said Dr Bang, whose work focuses on healthcare in Gadchiroli, a tribal area. A baseline survey in the area in 2015-16 showed 1,58,000 men to be alcohol consumers with a total out-of-pocket expenditure of Rs 80 crore. Dr Bang has been conducting de-addiction camps in Gadchiroli for the last couple of years in collaboration with the state government, treating 11,707 addicts at 891 such camps. “There has been community involvement at large. It started when women in Gadchiroli forced us to focus our efforts on alcoholism because of the ill effects they were witnessing,” he said. According to Dr Bang, voters asked all candidates contesting for the Lok Sabha seat to provide written and video pledges that they would not distribute alcohol on the day of voting and that they would support prohibition, regardless of whether they get elected. “A total of 85,000 voters signed each pledge and did not vote for candidates who refused this,” he said. He cited various reports published in Lancet as well as WHO studies on alcohol consumption and stated that at least 7 per cent of Indian men and 4 per cent of Indian women are dependent on alcohol, emphasising the urgent need for policy intervention. “Increasing prices and taxes reduces alcohol consumption temporarily, but the problem with that is governments become addicted to tax revenue,” he said. Citing RBI data, he mentioned that various state governments in India collected a total of R1,75,000 crore as tax from alcohol, with Uttar Pradesh being the top collector, followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana. “State governments are slaves to alcohol tax because they do not have any other major revenue sources,” he added. Dr Bang stressed that the solution to the alcohol issue in India needs to move beyond taxation. “Scientific opinion on alcohol has changed, and few are aware of it. Doctors agree that only zero consumption is safe consumption. A Lancet editorial has noted this, stating that no level of alcohol consumption improves health,” he said. “So, restrictions on alcohol access by governments can reduce consumption in the population by 40 per cent and drastically reduce violence against women,” he concluded. 11,707No. of people treated for alcoholism in Gadchiroli
27 April,2024 07:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Eshan KalyanikarThe Thane police crime branch with the help of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) busted an interstate mephedrone racket resulting in the arrest of six persons and seizure of raw material with a market value of Rs 20.18 crore. The racket was busted following the investigation by Thane police crime branch which started with the arrest of a drug peddler for possession of 15 grams of mephedrone. Thane crime branch deputy commissioner of police Shivraj Patil confirmed the arrests. With the recent action the total number of persons arrested in this case has gone to 13. The police said the accused persons were arrested from Varanasi and Azamgarh and also two cars were seized. The police during investigation found that this accused had brought the raw material or chemical for the making of the mephedrone from Vapi in Gujarat. “The six arrested were produced in local UP court for a transit remand and will be brought to Thane. Three of the accused are said to be from Varanasi, one from Jaunpur and one each from Maharashtra and Gujarat,” said a police officer from Thane crime branch. The police said the seizure includes around 20 kg of chemicals, 11 mobiles and one Hyundai Creta car and one Mahindra Thar car. The team comprising police inspector Dilip Patil, along with assistant police inspector Rupali Pol and other team members had started the investigation in February. The crime branch had arrested a person with 15 grams of mephedrone and the investigation further led to a factory in Varanasi. “The drug was manufactured in a factory located in a farm in Varanasi and was being supplied by the accused persons to Mumbai and other parts of the state. The factory was located in Varanasi as it was considered risky to locate the factory in Mumbai and its suburbs owing to police vigilance. In the operation we had initially arrested seven people leading to the information about the manufacturers and suppliers. Now we have arrested six more persons taking the number of persons arrested to 13,” said the police officer. After receiving information about the suspects hiding in Varanasi and Azamgarh, the Thane crime branch took help of STF inspector Amit Srivastava and his team. Search operation was carried out at different hideouts and six people were arrested to seize the raw material and mobile phones. “Sandeep Tiwari was arrested from Ausanganj near Varanasi, while Lalit Pathak from Holapur in Varanasi. Nilesh Pandey, Vijay Pal, Bindu Patel and Anil Jaiswal have been arrested for manufacturing the drugs. The police during investigation found that accused Tiwari taught Pal and Patel to manufacture the drugs. While Om Gupta, who is wanted by the police in the initial case registered in Thane, used to bring raw material chemicals from Gujarat to prepare synthetic drugs and give them to Jaiswal, Pandey, Pal and Patel in Azamgarh. The main buyer is said to be Savita Jaiswal from Central Mumbai, who arrived in Uttar Pradesh by flight four days ago and bought two and a half kg of drugs at the rate of rupees eight lakh per kg. The payment of R20 lakh was taken in cash by Jaiswal’s brother Dilip Jaiswal in Mumbai. Savita had paid R40 lakh in advance for five kilograms of the drugs,” said the official. The police are continuing their investigation and hope to unravel the entire racket with the arrest of Savita and Dilip Jaiswal. Rs 20.18CRMarket value of the raw material seized Rs 20LAKHAmount taken by Jaiswal’s brother Dilip Jaiswal in Mumbai Rs 40LAKHAmount taken in advance for 5 kg of the drugs
27 April,2024 07:08 AM IST | Mumbai | Faisal TandelADVERTISEMENT
