“The Centre Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting raids at 16 places in Delhi, Patna and district Gopalganj of Bihar in connection with the alleged land-for-job scam involving former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, RJD leader.

The raids are also being held at the residence of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLC Sunil Singh, who is considered to be close to Lalu. The CBI team is currently scanning various documents at his house.

The CBI had learnt during the probe that Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi and daughter Hema Yadav were gifted lands in connection with the scam by job seekers who were later appointed in the railways.

Haridayanand Chaudhary, a railway employee and Bhola Yadav, the then OSD to former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad were earlier arrested by the CBI. Bhola was Lalu’s OSD between 2004 to 2009.

The CBI registered a case against Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, two daughters and 15 others, including unknown public servants and private persons.

“During the period 2004-2009 Yadav had obtained pecuniary advantages in the form of transfer of landed property in the name of his family members in lieu of appointment of Substitutes in Group ‘D’ Post in different zones of Railways,” the official said.

A number of residents of Patna or through their family members sold and gifted their lands in the state capital in favour of the family members of Lalu Prasad and a private company controlled by the former chief minister and his family and they were also involved in transfer of such immovable properties.

“No advertisement or any public notice was issued for such appointment of substitutes in Zonal Railways, yet the appointees who were residents of Patna were appointed as Substitutes in different Zonal Railways located at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur.

“In continuation of this modus operandi, about 1,05,292 Sq. feet land, immovable properties situated at Patna were acquired by Yadav and his family members through five sales deeds and two gift deeds, showing the payment made to the seller in cash in most of the land transfers,” the CBI official said.

Congress General Secretary in charge Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said that the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi will be travelling abroad for her medical check-up along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

“Congress President Sonia Gandhi, along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, will be travelling abroad for medical check-ups. Party MP Rahul Gandhi will address ‘Mehangai Par Halla Bol’ rally in Delhi on September 4,” Ramesh said in a statement. Party MP Rahul Gandhi will address the ‘Mehangai Par Halla Bol’ rally in Delhi on September 4.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will also visit her ailing mother before she returns to Delhi, he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi met the newly elected President of India Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.
Sonia Gandhi paid a visit to President Murmu amidst the ongoing internal differences in the Congress party.

Recently, Congress senior leader Anand Sharma announced his resignation from the chairmanship of the party’s steering committee for the state, saying he was left with no choice after the continuing exclusion and insults.

Meanwhile, the AICC in charge of Himachal Pradesh, Rajeev Shukla was sent to pacify him. After his meeting with Anand Sharma, Shukla travelled to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi.

Reportedly, Sonia Gandhi recently tested positive for Covid-19.

The Delhi government, in a historic step on Tuesday, handed over letters of appointment to 11 women drivers joining Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) as bus drivers.

The letters of appointment were handed over by Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot in the presence of Transport Commissioner Ashish Kundra, Managing Director Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS) Rajesh Agarwal and other senior officials. The first batch of 11 women will now start their career as bus drivers and have been deployed under various depots of Delhi Transport Corporation.

The appointment of women as bus drivers has come in the backdrop of the Delhi government’s consistent effort to induct women as bus drivers under its city transportation fleet. Many women have also come out and spoken about willingness to become bus drivers in the state public transport services.

Gahlot, on the occasion further stated, “I want to thank all women today being handed over the letters of appointment today, for their courage to take up bus driving as career choice and becoming a role model for society. I am very hopeful that they will inspire more women to become bus drivers with Delhi’s Transportation fleet. I am very hopeful that with more women driving Delhi Government’s buses, the public transportation in the city will become safer and passenger friendly. I wish them the very best for the future.”

In February, the Delhi government had relaxed the norms and eligibility criteria to recruit women as drivers within its bus operations. It reduced minimum height criteria from 159cm to 153cm and ‘experience criteria’ for induction as bus drivers to one month for women applicants. The step increased opportunities for women employment within the combined fleet strength of approximately 7370 buses in the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS). The move also opened the doors for women to be employed within the 15000 strong workforce of bus drivers within the state public transportation.

New Delhi, Aug 24: India logged 10,649 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,43,68,195, while the active cases declined to 96,442, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The death toll has climbed to 5,27,452 with 36 fatalities which includes four deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.22 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.59 per cent, the ministry said.
A decline of 64 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year. (Agencies)

NEW DELHI, Aug 23: The Congress on Tuesday officially launched the website and tagline for the pan-India ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ scheduled to begin on September 7 from Kanyakumari.
It said that the aim of the yatra is to unite India; to come together and get the country back on its feet.
Veteran leaders Jairam Ramesh and Digvijaya Singh jointly launched the detailed programme of the event.
After being kick-started on September 7, the yatra will pass through 12 states and culminate in Jammu and Kashmir – spanning a distance of nearly 3,500 kilometres in a time period of about 150 days.
Senior leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, will actively participate in the march. Those who are unable to join physically, will help spread its message by organising events and participating in online campaigns.
People from all walks of life will join it at various points, and march together. It will be a celebration of India’s unity, a festival of hope that will come alive with musical programmes and contests that anyone can participate in.
“This is an open invitation to all to join and walk with us. India belongs to all of us. ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is for all.” the party said.
Economically, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, the party said, adding that the common people are distressed by sky-rocketing inflation and unemployment.
Kisans and Khet mazdoors are being buried under debt. The assets of our country are being sold to crony capitalists at a huge loss.
“Socially, people are being divided on the basis of caste, religion, region, language, food, dress,” the party alleged, adding that every day, a new conspiracy is hatched to make one Indian fight another. There is a growing sense of insecurity, especially among women.
It said politically, today the voices of people are being suppressed and our Constitutional rights are being crushed. Efforts are being made in a systematic manner to subvert our Constitution, dismantle our institutions, hollow out our democracy, and destroy our unity and fraternity.
State governments elected by the people, are being destabilised by money power and misuse of agencies. “The states are not getting the tax money owed to them by the Union government on time. Dalits, adivasis, backward classes are being deprived of their basic rights-jal, jangal and zameen”.
The Party said to tackle this is to come together, hold hands, and understand the power of unity.
“We must start a movement to get rid of the politics of division and hate, strengthening social harmony along the principles of ‘Unity in Diversity’ and ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhava’,” it said. (Agencies)