PATNAIK REQUESTS MODI TO STOP POLAVARAM WORK

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop construction of Polavaram irrigation project until all the pending issues are resolved. In a letter to the Prime Minister, the chief minister also requested to give directions to the environment, forest and climate change ministry to cancel the July order for Polavaram project. The ministry has kept the “stop work order” in abeyance from July 3, 2018 for a year citing the assurances given by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that the reservoir of the Polavaram project will not be impounded without the ministry’s permission.

Akshay appears before SIT, denies meeting Ram Rahim

CHANDIGARH: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar appeared Wednesday before a special investigation team formed by the Punjab government, dismissing allegations that he arranged a meeting between former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and controversial godman Gurmeet Ram

Rahim Singh. The five-member SIT is probing police firing at Faridkot’s Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura on people protesting over the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib. Two people had died in the police firing in 2015. Akshay Kumar’s counsel told reporters that the actor denied having ever met Rahim, currently serving a jail term in two rape cases.