New Delhi: Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said yesterday that the bill for the creation of the new state of Telangana will be tabled in parliament during its winter session, beginning December 5. Shinde’s remarks indicated that the government has expedited the process of creating the new state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. The Group of Ministers set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has held a series of meetings with different stakeholders, including political parties, from the state. The ministerial group, headed by Shinde, on Monday held talks with secretaries of eight departments. The departments have already submitted their reports after going through over 18,000 suggestions received from people, public representatives and political parties. The panel will submit its recommendations to the central cabinet. A draft bill for the formation of a separate Telangana state is likely to be sent to the Andhra Pradesh assembly by month-end.
22 children get national awards
New Delhi: Twenty-two children were yesterday presented with the national child awards for exceptional achievement in their respective fields. The awards were given away by Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath on the occasion of Children’s Day at the Vatsalya Mela at Dilli Haat here. The awards are presented every year to children in the age group of 4-15 years for their exceptional achievement in various fields, including academics, art, culture and sports. One child was awarded a gold medal with a cash prize of Rs20,000 and a citation and the 21 other got silver medals with cash prizes of Rs10,000 and citations. The gold medal was presented to Harshal Shahi from Delhi for his exceptional achievement in chess. Of the 21 silver medals, 10 were bagged by girls.
11 injured in Tata plant explosion
Ranchi: Eleven people, including six labourers, were injured in a blast in the Tata Steel plant at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand yesterday afternoon, the company’s official said. After the flames were doused and the gas leakage arrested, the company said: “There is no danger of any gas leakage from the Steel Plant.” The explosion took place in the LD gas holder in the steel plant. After the explosion, a fire broke out which was later extinguished. Eleven people, including six contract labourers, were injured, Prabhat Sharma, spokesperson of Tata Steel, said.
431 nominations filed for Delhi polls
New Delhi: With one day to go for the filing of nominations for the Delhi assembly polls, a total of 431 nomination papers were filed yesterday. Delhi will go to the polls on December 4. It has 70 constituencies and nine districts. So far, 629 candidates have filed their nominations. “As the Delhi Election Commission will remain closed on Friday on account of Muharram, and since Saturday is the last day for filing the nomination, most of the candidates have filed their nomination today,” the official said. Leaders who filed their nominations were Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan. The last date of filing nominations is November 16. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on November 18. Delhi has a total of 11,526,865 voters.
IANS
