MEHBOOBA MUFTI RE-ELECTED PDP PRESIDENT
Srinagar, Feb. 22: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti was on Monday unanimously re-elected as president of the PDP for a three-year term.
Mufti’s name was proposed by senior leader Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura and seconded by Khurshid Alam, a party spokesperson said after the election. Senior PDP leader Abdul Rehman Veeri was the chairman of party election board, he said.
The spokesperson said the party’s electoral college in Jammu had earlier unanimously re-elected Mufti as party chief.
Senior leader Surinder Chaudhary was the returning officer for the election. Talking to reporters, Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir was going through tough times and that she will continue to lead the PDP on the mission for which it was established. “The PDP was established for raising the voice of the people and problems they face. We will continue to do that,” she said.
In response to a question, the PDP president said, “If they (police) think that I should be arrested for fighting for peoples’ rights, let them do their duty. I will continue to do my work.”
Asked about restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti said, “It is not for me to decide. The Centre has to restore it.”
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday ordered coronavirus tests for people entering into MP from Maharashtra in the wake of sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring state.
Mr Chouhan who held a meeting to review situation in the state directed the collectors in the districts bordering Maharashtra to strictly implement guidelines issued for the pandemic and conduct thermal screening and RT-PCR tests on the people coming from the neighbouring state.
He asked them to be vigilant while granting permission to organise big fairs and religious festivals in the areas bordering Maharashtra.
Mr Chouhan also ordered the collectors in all the 52 districts to constitute crisis management committees to deal with the situation.
Wearing masks in Bhopal and Indore has been made mandatory in the wake of sudden surge in cases of coronavirus in these two cities in the past couple of days.
Indore and Bhopal have reported 104 positive cases and 76 positive cases respectively in the last 24 hours.
Total 294 positive cases have been reported in the state in the last 24 hours.
However, no death due to coronavirus was reported in the state in the last 24 hours. Coronavirus has taken a toll of 3,854 in MP so far.
Wellington, Feb. 22: Volunteers in New Zealand were trying to save 40 stranded whales Monday evening by refloating them on the high tide. Nine more whales had already died.
The pod of 49 long-finned pilot whales beached themselves on Farewell Spit, a remote beach on the South Island, the Department of Conservation reported. The whales were first noticed by a tour operator on Monday morning, the department said. About 65 conservation rangers and volunteers worked throughout the day to help the whales by keeping them cool and wet until the water was deep enough to refloat them.
The nonprofit whale rescue group Project Jonah was helping coordinate efforts. Farewell Spit has been the site of previous mass strandings. Sometimes described as a whale trap, the spit's long coastline and gently sloping beaches seem to make it difficult for whales to navigate away from once they get close.