The Centre on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking a hearing on its curative plea against the court’s 2016 verdict allowing police investigations against armed forces engaged in operations against militants where the AFSPA is in force.

The apex court in its verdict delivered on 8 July, 2016 had given the state police liberty to probe the role of armed forces in alleged encounter cases in areas where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is in force.

A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul agreed to hear the curative plea, which says the army and paramilitary forces are combat forces and should not be put under such fetters during anti-militancy operations.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, assailed the apex court verdict giving the state police power to probe the role of armed forces in anti- militancy operation.

“This court ought to have appreciated that the principles of right to self defence cannot be strictly applied while dealing with militants and terrorist elements in a hostile and unstable terrain. This court ought to have taken into account the complexity and the reality of the conduct of military operations and tactics especially while combating terrorists,” the curative plea said.

The apex court verdict on investigating the role of armed forces in encounter cases had come on a plea alleging that armed forces were misusing the protection under AFSPA in Manipur during anti-militancy operation.

The face-off between the Haryana government and the agitating roadways employees deepened on Wednesday with the state government suspending 120 workers while the protestors still pressing for their demand for cancellation of permits given to private operators to play buses on nearly 273 routes.

Apart from suspension of 120 roadways workers mainly of them are leaders of employees' unions, state's Transport Department has also written the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) for immediate action against those who try to interrupt the transportation.

Failed to reach any consensus despite two meetings on Monday and Tuesday respectively, third meeting scheduled to be held between the Transport minister Krishan Panwar and four employee's unions, also could not take place on Wednesday evening.

Accusing the state government of permitting private players to ply buses on profitable routes, the roadways employee has made it clear that they won't withdraw the agitation until and unless the government cancel private permits on the contentious routes.

Meanwhile, commuters continued to face tough times with nearly 4000 Haryana roadways buses not plying on 1300 routes.

According to the official information, over 13 lakh passengers use to travel in Haryana roadways. The strike is also causing a loss of more than Rs.3.5 Crore per day.

While the state government justifying permission to private bus operators on 273 routes saying that the decision won't affect the future of the roadways employee in any sense as against the required 13500 buses, the roadways fleet comprises merely around 4200 buses and the private buses would fill the gap.

Additional Chief Secretary to Haryana Transport Department, SS Dhillon said, "The demand is of the agitating employees is totaly illegal as it's not going to harm their carrier. Even allowing private buses on some routes would help in catering more passengers."

"Out of the 273 routes, even there are no applications for 118 routes. Besides, we are planning to induct 1000 more buses in roadways fleet within the current financial year," he added.

On the other hand, Haryana Roadways Workers Union's Hari Narayan Sharma said, "Earlier permits to private players used to be given after consultation with the roadways while this time the Transport Department itself took the decision and given profitable routes to the private buses. This has not only affected the roadways revenue adversely, but also resulted into conflicts between the roadways employees and private operators clashing on same roads."

"Moreover, despite repeated claims the state government has failed to induct or procure new buses in past two and half years. Even the Haryana Roadway Engineer Corporation in Gurugram taking care of manufacturing buses, has also failed to manufacture any bus in past years," he said.

According to the information, in 2013 Transport policy, there were 3519 permits to private operators for 1018 routes but in 2017 routes were decreased to 273 but provision was made for unlimited private permits.

The chopper service to Kedarnath has run into rough weather. The Uttarakhand government has cancelled the contract awarded to India Flysafe Aviation, owned by Congress leader Naveen Jindal, during the earlier Harish Rawat government. The contract to Jindal became a political issue with the BJP prominently raising it during state assembly polls. 

The 16 trek to Kedarnath demand high-level physical fitness and so in the recent times the helicopter service for the famous Hindu shrine has gained mass popularity. Last year over ninety-one thousand devotees used the air service for their pilgrimage to Kedarnath.

With less than three weeks remaining for the reopening of the Kedarnath shrine, located in district Ruderprayag, little time is left for completing the new contact process for aviation companies. Congress is crying foul on cancelling the contact, ex-Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat termed in politically motivated move and harmful for aviation sector in Uttarakhand.

Till last year over a dozen private aviation companies were offering air service to Kedarnath. But, in November last year the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority invited fresh tenders and strangely only the Flysafe Aviation fulfilled the criteria. 

But as the government changed in Uttarakhand and BJP took over the charge, the Congress promoted Flysafe Aviation was likely to face trouble. S Ramaswami, CEO of Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority, terminated the contact  with Flysafe Aviation, on Tuesday, citing reasons that the company filed to fulfill many conditions.

The challenge before Uttarakhand government is to resume and complete the formalities for new tenders for staring the air service to Kedarnath, which will reopen on coming 3 May. Reducing the air fare and making it at par with Vaishno Devi will also pose trouble for Uttarakhand government. The one side air fare for Vaishno Devi is about Rs 1200 and Rs 4500 for Kedarnath.

The issue is vital as the new aviation policy (UDAN) of Modi government asserts charging Rs 2500 for half an hour chopper ride. The air journey to both Vaishno Devi and Kedarnath gets completed in less than 10 minutes. 

Photo: Chopper landing in Kedarnath. Over 91,000 pilgrims used helicopters for the trip to Kedarnath last year.

Eighteen staff members of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have been terminated from service allegedly for taking up the issue of "sudden cut in salary" with the AIIMS authorities.

The sacked employees, who are among the 350 other Class IV staff members employed on contractual basis, alleged that they were also manhandled by police when the matter was taken up with the hospital authorities.

They complained that the salary of Rs 9,500 was suddenly reduced to Rs 8,500, without giving any reason.

According to the Delhi Hospitals Contractual Workers Union, a facility management company — Sudarshan Facilities Pvt Ltd — was in December 2016 given the contract for hiring housekeeping staff in the main AIIMS Trauma Centre, also known as Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre. 

"The workers employed under the contract were hired for Rs 9,500. But, since January this year, the workers were receiving only Rs 8,500. On March 1, the issue was initially taken up with the management of the company, which failed to come up with any reply. 

"Thereafter, we approached the Additional Medical Superintendent of AIIMS Trauma Centre Dr Amit Gupta, who instead of solving the matter called police," Mriganka, General Secretary of the union, told IANS.

Mriganka said the police manhandled the group of workers and told them of return to work.

"As the Additional Medical Superintendent failed to solve the issue, we took up the matter with the Labour Commissioner, who spoke to the company representative of Sudarshan Facilities Pvt Ltd and asked us to return to work.

"However, the next day when we reported for duty, we found that the services of 18 of our colleagues were terminated, without restoring the previous salary," said Mriganka.

When contacted, there was neither any response from Amit Gupta nor from Sudarshan Facilities Pvt Ltd.

Seeking minimum wages and timely payments, the workers have also demanded that the terminated staff members be reinstated forthwith, with continuity in service.

In a letter to the AIIMS Deputy Director, the contractual workers' union has alleged that they were also being compelled to perform the work of Class III staff, like OT technicians and computer operators.

This practice was lowering the standards of medical care, as Class IV workers were supposed to do sanitation work, work as ward boys and other similar other works, the letter pointed out.

The letter also mentioned the delays in payment of wages and denial of bonus. 

"The workmen are given their wages around 15th to 20th of every month, which violates the Payment of Wages Act. Though the permanent employees at both centres get bonus, these employees doing similar nature of work, even more at times, do not get any bonus during festivals," the letter read. 

The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the final hearing in the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case to27 April saying it desires an amicable solution to the controversial issue. 

The final hearing was put off after the Centre informed the court that a meeting of Punjab and Haryana has been convened by it on 20 April to resolve the matter. The court, however, made it clear that if a solution is not found, it will proceed with the matter on the next date of hearing.

"A meeting has been called at the highest level on April 20. The government of India is very keen to find a solution," Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the bench headed by Justice P C Ghose.

The bench, also comprising Justice Amitava Roy, considered the statement of Solicitor General and deferred the hearing in the case to 27 April.

"We do not want to shut the door to an amicable solution," the bench said, when senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Haryana, reminded it that the matter has been listed for final hearing with regard to execution of the court's judgement favouring construction of SYL canal.

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who represents Punjab in the case, said he has always been saying that an out-of-court solution should be found to the impasse. The bench stated that if a solution is not found, it will proceed with the matter on the next date of hearing.

Boman Irani says he does not like to put his characters in a particular box as he feels a role cannot simply be comedic or serious.

He says he likes to explore the entire spectrum of emotions in a character, no matter what genre it belongs to.

“I don't care whether the role is of a serious guy or a negative guy or a comedic one. I look at it all the way. If I have a comedic role, I will not concentrate only on the laughs. I would like to make the character more believable within the plot so that the story gets told.

“If the writing is bad, none of the roles would save the film from tanking. I do not like compartmentalising my roles,” says Boman.

The actor, 57, says he tries to get familiar with the nuances of his character, as he feels a role cannot be one- dimensional.

“I don't know if my role in '3 Idiots' can be termed as a comedic one. I don't even know how to identify it. It was a very dark character. There will be a dramatic scene in the film for which my character will have to prepare itself.

“Take the 'Munna Bhai' series, where the character had to go through a lot of dramatic scenes. In 'Khosla ka Ghosla', he was a villainous character, I don't see him as a comedic one. Today, we are concentrating on punchlines and that's very dangerous. For me any role is difficult, if I'm not prepared or if the writing is bad. It has nothing to do with the genre,” he says.

Boman says an actor needs to know the whole story so that one can build the character over the course of a film or a play and sticking to just knowing what one's role is not enough.

“What happens in theatre is that even if a character is supposed to appear in the fourth or fifth scene, you must experience the whole dynamics of the play, so that you understand where you fit in the story. Whenever someone starts reading my scenes in the script to me, I tell them to not just tell me about my character but concentrate on the whole narrative.

“Reading the full script helps me understand the graph of my character. I have learnt this from my theatre days that a situation may arise that an actor is unable to perform and I may have to step in his shoes… For that I need to know the entire story. I will never be able to understand my character if I don't know the whole plot,” Boman says.

Discussing his stint as a judge on children's reality TV show, “Sabse Bada Kalakar” on Sony channel, the actor says he is having a wonderful time sitting back and witnessing the acting talent of children.

“It is a charming little show. I feel like I'm on a holiday while judging 'Sabse Bada Kalakar'. I simply go and sit there, and watch these beautiful children show their talent with gay abandon and fearlessness. It is so joyous to watch them.

“This show is just like an extension of extra-curricular activities in school that is airing on television for everyone to enjoy,” he says.

Boman judges the show along with his “Munna Bhai” co-star Arshad Warsi and says it is a welcome experience to work with a friend.

“This show is a more informal opportunity for Arshad and I to spend time with each other and have fun. He's an old friend and as a co-judge on the show he also seems to enjoy watching the children perform. We share a lovely relationship.

“Hopefully, we will be in 'Munna Bhai 3' together. We don't know the script yet, but I hope to share screen with him soon,” Boman says.

Through this show, Boman also got a chance to know actress Raveena Tandon personally.

Following the footprints of Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, the saffron party government in Haryana headed by Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday launched a similar drive, 'Operation Durga', to keep check on crime against women.

 In 31 raids conducted during the first day of the campaign around a number of education institutions, bus stops and railway station in various districts, 74 persons were nabbed from 19 districts for different eve-teasing activities.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rajender Kumar posted in CM Squad, told The Statesman that nearly 25 teams comprising two female police personnel have been constituted under the squad for 'Operation Durga'.

"The special teams of CM squads after nabbing the eve-teasers, handed them over to the local police. Most of them were nabbed from educational institutions, especially colleges while stalking the girls," Kumar said.

Majority of the detained suspects used to stalk or follow females and harass them on their way to colleges and working places, added the official.

Data accessed by The Statesman shows that out of the 74 persons detained on first day of the campaign, maximum numbers were reported from Kurukshetra with 12 persons, followed by Dadri (10), Jhajjar (9), Fatehabad (6), Sirsa (5), Rohtak (5), Gurugram (4), Yamunanagar (4), Kaithal (3), Bhiwani (3), Karnal (3), Sonipat (3), Rewari (3), Faridabad (2), Panchkula (1) and Ambala (1).

IGP Kumar said that raids would be continuously conducted across the state by the special teams of CM squad in future too to keep tab on persons harassing women on public places.

When asked about the idea behind the said campaign, Kumar said that it was brought to the notice of the state government through the media and other social channels that despite various laws protecting the crime against women, the females while going to schools, colleges and working places were facing the problem of eve-teasing including males following them, harassing and making vulgar comments.

Places were identified first where such kind of eve-teasing activities were reported and then special teams were constituted to conduct raids and nab the culprits. These teams also comprise nine female sub-inspectors, 14 female assistant sub inspectors, six female head constables and 13 female constables.

In wake of a BJP youth wing leader announcing a bounty on her head, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said one can threaten or call her names, but cannot scare her.

Without naming anyone, Banerjee said, “They can abuse me, vilify me and conspire against me. They can abuse me as much as they want. I pray to God to forgive them. They do not know what they are saying. I will not say anything more.”

In an apparent reference to the Hindutva brigade, she told a public meeting here, “If anyone says that being a Hindu I can't go to a mosque or a church, it cannot be so. I am committed to the people. I am committed to protect everyone. There is no use threatening me.

“The more you threaten or call me names, the more I will proceed… Your criticism will be blessings for us. That will help us move forward. Now we are in Bengal. We will move to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and then to Delhi,” she said.

She also reiterated that the people would decide what they want to eat or what they wear. No political party can decide that, she said and asked the people not to get provoked by any instigation.

“Do not fall prey to false propaganda spread through the Internet and social networking site. Social networks have been used to spread false rumours in lieu of money. Huge funds from abroad are coming in for this.

“Don't be scared. Always remember that I am there as your biggest custodian,” Banerjee said.

Referring to the brandishing of swords at Ram Navami processions by RSS affiliates, she said, “Some locals have popped up suddenly asking people to play with swords. That's not the Bengal's culture,” she said adding “Let them learn Bengal's culture first, then comment about the state”.

“There is no need to give importance to them,” she said.

A day after Chandigarh Police booked 66 students on sedition charges after violence on the Panjab University campus here over fee hike, university authorities on Wednesday sought the dropping of the serious charge.

University Chief Security Officer Ashwani Kaul wrote to police authorities that slogans raised by protesting students during Tuesday's violent clash with police in Sector 14 were not against the state but University Grants Commission and Human Resource Development Ministry.

Police had booked 66 students for rioting and later for sedition. Police officials said the sedition charge was added following a complaint from university officials.

Around 50 people, including students, policemen and journalists, were injured when students protesting the massive fee hike for various courses clashed with police on the campus. Police took 52 students into custody. 

The fee hike, applicable from the 2017-18 academic session, was opposed by Students for Society, Panjab University Students Union, Students of Panjab University, and Students Organisation of India.

The university has been grappling with a financial crisis for the last two-three years as grants from the Centre and the Punjab government are not regular.

A court here on Wednesday granted bail to Rajya Sabha member Anil Kumar Sahani in an alleged Leave Travel Concession (LTC) fraud case.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal granted bail to Sahani and two others and asked them to furnish personal and surety bonds of Rs.1 lakh each.

Besides Sahani, the others accused granted bail are then Office Superintendent of Air India N S Nair and an employee of Delhi-based Air Cruise Travels Pvt Ltd, Anup Singh Panwar.

They appeared before the court in compliance of summons issued against them.

Meanwhile, the court issued non-bailable warrant against another accused, Arvind Tiwari, who works with Murgai Travels and did not turn up before the court despite summons.

Sahani and others have been booked under various section dealing with cheating, forgery and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The case was registered on October 31, 2013, against Sahani and others.

The CBI alleged that during 2012, Sahani entered into a criminal conspiracy with Air Cruise Travels Private Ltd and others aiming to cheat the government by claiming fake reimbursement of expenditure incurred upon purported air journeys along with other companions.

Sahani, in collusion with other persons, used forged e-tickets and fake boarding passes and claimed Rs 14 lakh as Travelling Allowance and Daily Allowance (TA/DA) reimbursement without actually undertaking the journey, the CBI said.

The court observed that Sahani also committed offence under Section 201 (destruction of evidence), as he destroyed the TA Claim Form and erased and deleted the signature from the e-tickets, which he had taken back from the office of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in the name of verification.

Sahani, a Janta Dal-United member from Bihar, however, denied the charges.
 

A former employee of ScoopWhoop has alleged that she was sexually harassed by a co-founder of the online news portal, weeks after TVF's Arunabh Kumar was booked by Mumbai Police on similar charges.

In a complaint filed at Vasant Kunj (South) police station south Delhi last month, the woman has alleged that the news portal's co-founder Suparn Pandey touched her inappropriately and even sent her suggestive videos, said a senior police officer.

The officer said that Pandey has been booked for sexual harassment, using word or gesture to outrage the modesty of a woman and criminal intimidation.

The complainant has also alleged that her pleas to the office administration went unheard. Police are investigating the case and no arrest has been made so far.

In an official statement, ScoopWhoop said, “We are extending full cooperation to the police to conduct a full and fair investigation into the matter.”

“ScoopWhoop strongly condemns any kind of harassment at the workplace. We work towards ensuring a safe and secure workplace for all our employees and take any complaints of harassment extremely seriously…We are fully prepared to accept the findings of the investigations and dutifully take the necessary action if found guilty,” it said.
The matter is also being inquired by ScoopWhoop's Internal Complaints Committee.

Last month, an anonymous blog post by a woman alleging sexual harassment to her by The Viral Fever CEO Arunabh Kumar when she worked at the firm between 2014 and 2016 had gone viral. It was followed by similar allegations by some other women.

Two cases of sexual harassment were filed against Kumar in separate police stations in Mumbai. One of the cases was lodged based on a complaint filed by a former employee of TVF.

Supermodel Gigi Hadid is all set to visit India as part of her global #TogetherTour to celebrate her Spring 2017 TommyXGigi collaborative collection.

The 21-year-old model, who will be visiting Mumbai on April 27, will join India's own fashionista Sonam Kapoor to discuss fashion, her collection, and her role as the global brand ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger womenswear.

“Travelling around the world to meet fans and present the TommyXGigi collections has been an amazing experience. I look forward to visiting Mumbai and celebrating our final #TogetherTour stop this season,” Gigi said in a statement.

“I am excited to welcome Gigi in India, I have always loved Tommy Hilfiger, and the TommyXGigi collaborative collection is just pure perfection!” said Sonam.

India will be the last stop of Gigi's Spring 2017 tour. The model visited New York, Berlin, Dubai, Tokyo and Shanghai last year and Los Angeles, Amsterdam, London, Milan and Paris this year to promote her clothing range.

TommyXGigi collection is inspired by the “Summer of Love” and is a nod to the laidback beach lifestyle. It pays homage to California with badges and patches inspired by the sunshine state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed regret that despite consensus among all parties, a constitutional amendment bill to accord a constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha.

The Prime Minister expressed his anguish through a tweet after a delegation of BJP lawmakers from Other Backward Classes met him in Parliament to thank him for the passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha.

According to a statement issued by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Prime Minister said: "This bill will ensure justice to backward classes and also help in their social empowerment."

Modi said he was shocked by the attitude of the opposition parties on the bill.

"It is surprising that the bill has not been passed in the upper house. This happened after recommendations of a parliamentary committee on OBCs on the issue. Even MPs from all parties met me and urged to make the amendment in the Constitution on the matter," Modi said.

Urging the party MPs to persuade the opposition MPs on the issue, Modi said: "To stop backward classes from (getting) their rights, by doing such nagative politics, is regrettable." 

BJP General Secretary Bhupender Yadav said the Prime Minister asked party MPs to spread the message of the bill and make the backward classes aware about it.

The bill to accord constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes was on Tuesday referred to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha after the opposition parties blocked its consideration in the house.

A motion for sending the National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill to the Select Committee was moved by Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot and it was adopted by the upper house.

The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday and the government tried to push its consideration by the Rajya Sabha but a combined opposition resisted it.

The government on April 5 introduced separate bills to constitute a commission for the socially and educationally backward classes — to be known as the National Commission for Backward Classes — and to repeal the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.

The National Commission for Backward Classes was constituted under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993, to examine requests of inclusion of any class of citizens as a backward class in the list and hear complaints of over- or under-inclusion of any backward class in such list.
 

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said Centre supplemented the Manipur government during the economic blockade crisis.

“Ministry of Home Affairs provided additional Central Armed Police Force companies to assist the State Government of Manipur for maintenance of law and order and security coverage for movement of essential supplies, including movement of petroleum products on National Highways, into Manipur,” Singh said.

The minister also said that petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) products were airlifted to Manipur besides movement of goods/POL products under security convoys.

Singh, emphasising the efforts of the Centre in dealing the law and order situation of the state, said the Home Affairs Ministry initiated tripartite meetings with the state government and the United Naga Coucil (UNC).

"Tripartite meetings were held on 15 November 2016, 3 February 2017, 7 February 2017 and 19 March 2017. The blockade has since been lifted by the UNC with effect from 19 March 2017,” Singh said.

“Government of Manipur has intimated that six (6) cases have been registered in respective police station jurisdictions where incidents of arson/damages were reported and investigated into,” Singh added.

The UNC had imposed economic blockade in the landlocked state since 1 November 2016 against the creation of seven new districts in October, 2016.

Delhi University has junked a proposal to introduce entrance examination for admission to undergraduate courses replacing the cut-off list system.

The varsity's Standing Committee on Admissions was earlier mulling admitting students through an entrance test rather than the existing criteria of cut-offs based on Class XII results.

The panel had also deliberated on various modalities — whether the exam should be subjective or objective, entrance should be made the sole criteria for admissions or there should be a weightage ascribed to both.

However, the university has informed the HRD Ministry that it has decided to continue with the old admission process.
“DU has informed that it would continue with the admission process which was followed for various undergraduate courses last year. It is not introducing admission through entrance test in any course this year and there are no fresh guidelines in this regard,” a senior HRD Ministry official said.

As previously, the university will conduct entrance examination for eight professional courses only — BMS, BBE, BBA, BTech, BA Humanities and Social Sciences, Bachelor of Elementary Education, Bachelor in Multimedia and Mass Communication and Bachelor or Science in Physical Education.

The admissions panel had in January said that if the entrance examination is introduced, the admission process which usually begins by May end will begin two months in advance.

A senior DU official, who is member of the admissions committee said, “We had made certain recommendations but the varsity has decided not to go ahead with it as the plan requires more feasibility study before it is placed before the statutory bodies.”

The varsity had last year moved online for the undergraduate admission process. After registering themselves on DU's admission portal, the students are required to upload self-attested and scanned copies of their documents after following the instructions and then make the payment online.

Country’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) or factory output slipped by 1.2% on year-on-year basis for the month of February, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation said on Wednesday.

The IIP now stands at 182.3, down 1.2%, as compared to February 2016.

Sector wise, mining sector grew by 3.3 per cent, manufacturing sector fell by 2 per cent and electricity production rose by 0.3 per cent in February 2017 as compared to February 2016.

Meanwhile, India's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation retail inflation rose to 3.81 per cent in March from 3.18 per cent during the previous month.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda on Wednesday reviewed the preparedness for the prevention and control of dengue and chikungunya in the country.

In a high-level meeting held here, officials informed the minister that advisories have been sent to all states as early as January for strengthening their preparedness before the dengue season.

The officials further informed Nadda that teams of experts from the ministry have visited many states to review their preparedness and advised them suitably.

Nadda, during the meeting, asked the states to launch aggressive IEC campaigns to create awareness on prevention and control of vectors in their surrounding areas and neighbourhoods.

Nadda also directed the officers to conduct regular supervisory visits to various hospitals in Delhi for assessing the situation, preparedness and to provide on the spot technical guidance to the health authorities.