US top court takes up dispute over power plant in Gujarat
WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider reviving a lawsuit by Indian villagers seeking to hold a Washington-based financial institution responsible for widespread environmental damage they blame on a power plant it financed. The court will hear an appeal by the villagers on a lower court ruling that the International Finance Corp was immune from such lawsuits under federal law. The case revolves around the IFC’S decision in 2008 to provide $450 million in loans to help construct the coal-fired Tata Mundra Power Plant in Gujarat. JAMMU/SRINAGAR: An eight-monthold child died, a policeman and six others were injured as Pakistani forces resumed firing in Arnia and Ramgarh area of RS Pura sector in Jammu and Samba districts on Monday morning.
Earlier on Sunday night, Pakistani forces had opened fire in Narayanpur and Baba Chamliyal areas in Ramgarh sector, hours after it “pleaded” with the Border Security Force for a ceasefire.
“There was heavy shelling in Arnia. Six civilians and a policeman were injured. They were provided with medical care,” additional deputy commissioner of Jammu Arun Manhas said.
He added that shelter camps have been set up for affected people while nearly 10,000 people have moved to safer areas.
A police officer said that “Pakistan has been using 80mm and 120mm mortar shells — flat trajectory battalion level weapons — on residential areas and nearby villages”. Another officer confirmed the death of an eightmonth-old child in Jogwan of Akhnoor. “The boy was inside the house with his mother when a bullet hit him in the back and pierced through his stomach.”
Two civilians, Darshana Devi and Mohinder Kumar, both of Pindi Charkan Kalan, were shifted to a hospital around 9.30am. The injured policeman has been identified as SPO Gurcharan Singh, posted in Arnia.
“The constable was injured when a mortar shell hit Arnia police station in the heart of the border town. The building, a police gypsy, mobikes were pockmarked by the flying shrapnels that also smashed windowpanes of the police station,” he said.