Kargil Residents Brave Bone-Chilling Cold To Protest Centre's Ladakh Division Move, National : Today Indya

Kargil Residents Brave Bone-Chilling Cold To Protest Centre's Ladakh Division Move

National

NDTV

Two days ago, the administration had sanctioned the creation of a separate administrative and revenue division comprising Leh and Kargil districts with its headquarters at Leh.

Kargil Residents Brave Bone-Chilling Cold To Protest Centre

SRINAGAR: Creating a separate administrative division for Ladakh with its headquarters at Leh is backfiring on the centre. Two days after the government issued the controversial order, thousands of Kargil residents marched in the bone-chilling cold to demand that the decision be reviewed immediately. They have refused to be part of the newly created division unless there is six-month rotation of offices between Leh and Kargil.

According to the order, the administration has sanctioned the creation of a separate administrative and revenue division comprising Leh and Kargil districts with its headquarters at Leh. Ladakh was part of Kashmir division until now.

"Give it to Leh district if you want to, but then let Kargil remain part of Kashmir division. This is absolute injustice, and we will not accept this. The decision must be reviewed, and the headquarters should be on six-month rotation," said Feroz Ahmad Khan, Chief Executive Councillor of the Ladakh Area Hill Development Council, Kargil.

All elected leaders from Kargil, including Mr Khan, have threatened to resign if the order is not withdrawn. They claim that the demand for a separate Ladakh division had actually been made by the people of Kargil, and the government's decision to install the divisional headquarters at Leh was done with the aim of creating political strife in the region.

Meanwhile, largescale agitations are being taken out in Kargil, and temperatures as low as minus 21 degrees Celsius are doing little to deter them. All political, social and religious organisations in the region have called for a shutdown tomorrow, and threatened to launch an agitation if the decision is not reviewed.

The government's decision has led to other repercussions too, with demands for separate administrative divisions cropping up from Jammu's Pirpanjal and Chenab Valley too. While the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party strongly back the creation of separate divisions for these regions, the BJP is vehemently opposed to it.

The decision on separating Ladakh from the Kashmir division was taken less than a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Leh. Although the BJP had won the Ladakh parliamentary seat in 2014, it suffered huge reverses when several senior party leaders - including its local parliamentarian - resigned in November.

The party is desperately trying to regain lost ground before the upcoming elections. While the decision has been welcomed in Leh, it faces huge opposition in Kargil. "If they don't review this decision, the entire Kargil unit of the BJP will resign," said BJP district president Mohammad Ali Majaz.

Article Original Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kargil-residents-brave-bone-chilling-cold-t...

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Groom falls in drain after bridge collapses due to ‘baraat’ dance in Noida

National

Hindustan Times

Fifteen persons, part of a wedding procession (baraat), including the groom, fell into a drain when the bridge they were dancing on collapsed in Hoshiyarpur village of Noida’s Sector 52 on Saturday night.

The incident took place around 9.30pm when 15 persons, including the groom, were dancing on a small bridge that collapsed all of a sudden. The bridge, built over a drain, connected the Olive Garden wedding banquet hall’s gate to its lawn. According to eyewitnesses, the wedding procession had been dancing for over 10 minutes on the bridge.

“We received information around 9.30pm that a bridge had collapsed in Hoshiyarpur village in Sector 52, and over a dozen people had fallen into a drain. Two children, aged below 8 years, were injured and were rushed to a nearby private hospital for medical assistance. No case was registered; both the parties reached an agreement,” Mithilesh Upadhyay, station house officer, Sector 24 police station, said.

A ruckus ensued after the accident and it was only after the banquet hall owner paid ₹3 lakh in cash to the bride’s family that the wedding resumed.The groom was identified as 35-year-old Amit Yadav, a businessman from Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, and the bride was 32-year-old Sonam, a resident of Kondli in Delhi. Sonam’s father Phool Kumar had booked the place for the wedding on February 9.

According to a security guard who was an eyewitness to the incident, the bride’s family was standing at the other end of the bridge to welcome the baraat.

“Nearly 15 baraatis danced for about 10 minutes on the bridge, while the others walked over it to get to the lawn. The baraatis who stopped at the bridge to dance included the groom,” the guard said.

Sumit Yadav, Amit’s younger brother, said that the wedding venue had no other exit than the collapsed bridge.

“The bride’s father and mother were standing at the other end of the bridge to welcome the groom. It was quite embarrassing for us. Many of us lost our mobile phones and jewellery when we fell into the drain. The place had no emergency or alternate exit,” Sumit said.

OP Sharma, the owner of Olive Garden, said that the bridge’s collapse was an unfortunate accident.

“We have been in business for the past 15 years; this is the first time that such an incident took place. We apologised and returned every penny we took from the bride’s side. The wedding ceremony resumed after the accident,” Sharma said.

The bride’s father wrote to the wedding organisers stating that he did not wish to file a complaint.

“Luckily, no one was grievously injured in the accident, and to compensate for our loss, the organisers paid us ₹3 lakh. We do not wish to file any complaint,” he said.

Article Original Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/noida/groom-falls-in-drain-after-bridge-coll...