UP goes to court for district rollback

Lucknow (PTI): The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court challenging an Allahabad High Court order that quashed the abolition of nine districts and four commissariats, an official release said here.

The high court, on May 21, had quashed the notification issued by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government abolishing the districts and commissariats created by the previous Mayavati government.

The government had disbanded the districts in interest of the state and its economy, the release said.

The previous government, the release claimed, had not created the districts in keeping with the norms.

The state government, on January 13, had abolished four divisions — Devi Patan, Basti, Mirzapur and Saharanpur— and disbanded Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Shrawasti, Mahamaya Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Kaushambi, Auriya, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Chandauli and Ambedkar Nagar.

Six Dalits convert to Islam

Tuticorin (PTI): Six Dalits of a remote village in this district embraced Islam, citing discrimination by Hindus as one of the main reasons for the conversion.

Their move followed the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to scrap its anti-conversion law.

Official sources said a group of Muslims, including clerics from Erwardi, Thanjavur and Theni, initiated the six, including Sudhakar (19), Subbiah (46), Murali (26), Palani (26) and Kottaisamy (28), into Islam.

State government officials said the conversions were voluntary.

There are around 150 Dalit families in Melmandhai village who want to embrace Islam, the new converts claimed.

The region has been facing a host of problems, largely due to failure of monsoon, lack of educational facilities and large-scale unemployment.

Dismissing charges of discrimination against the Dalits, the Hindu Munnani demanded action against those responsible for the conversion.

Scribe held in graft case

Mumbai (PTI): A journalist was arrested on Tuesday on charges of trying to extort money from a Congress leader in Mumbra town.

Police in Thane district arrested the man, a resident of Shamshad Nagar in Mumbra, following a complaint lodged by Congress leader Naem Khan that the scribe had demanded Rs 25,000 from him. According to the complaint, the scribe had written a defamatory article against Khan after he refused to hand over the money.

Couple surrenders

Warangal (PTI): A couple, members of the banned People’s War Group (PWG), surrendered here on Tuesday. Erra Chandramouli alias Sekhar and his wife Vandana Dutta alias Susila surrendered before Warangal range deputy inspector-general of police T. Krishna Prasad. Chandramouli had joined the Naxalite outfit in 1996, four years after his wife started working for the PWG.

Bribery arrest

Nasik (PTI): A junior engineer of the Nashik Municipal Corporation was caught red-handed by sleuths of the anti-corruption bureau accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a contractor, sources at the bureau said. The engineer had demanded Rs 1 lakh for passing a bill of the contractor, required for construction of a road at Ambad.

Factory gutted

Mumbai (PTI): Eight persons were injured in a blaze that gutted a chemical factory at Dombivali Industrial Estate in Thane district on Monday night. The owner of the unit is yet to be traced. The injured, who worked as contract labourers, sustained burns while trying to escape the fire, police sources said. The injured have been admitted in a private hospital in Dombivali.

Powder haul

Akola (PTI): Thirty-nine kg of a powdery substance, resembling glucose powder, was seized from a local shop by the food and drugs administration department on Monday night, the officials said. The white powder was being sold in unlabelled tins at Rs 40 a kg, which aroused the suspicion of the department.

Deccan Queen, the home away from home for daily passengers commuting between Pune and Mumbai, celebrated its 75th anniversary on Tuesday. Fondly called “DQ”, it is the only locomotive to bag an ISO 9000 certificate.