Women, two children succumb to burns
TIRUNELVELI (TN): A woman and her two young children died while her husband was in a critical condition after the couple set themselves and the kids on fire at the collectorate complex here on Monday over alleged harassment by a money-lender and police. Subbulakshmi and her daughters, aged two and five, succumbed to burns at a hospital where her 32-year-old husband Isakki Muthu was battling for life in “a very critical condition”, the police said.
Soon after the shocking incident, the authorities announced setting up of a separate centre to help those affected by usury and formed a special team to probe the allegations levelled by Muthu. The police said the money-lender, Dhalavai Raj, his wife Muthu Lakshmi and Dalavai Raj's father Kalimuthu were arrested while Sub Inspector Murugan and Head Constable Kandhasamy Kumar who allegedly threatened the couple were placed under suspension.
Muthu had borrowed Rs 1.40 lakh to start a business, his brother claimed, adding that he had already repaid the lender a sum of Rs 2.34 lakh, including the interest. Raj and others were, however, harassing Muthu for more money, his brother alleged. This forced Muthu to approach the police, which refused to accept a complaint and even threatened him, he alleged. Subsequently, the victim lodged a complaint with the district collector, who directed the police to initiate action against the lender under the Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act.
Muthu's brother alleged that despite repeated reminders from the collector's office, the police did nothing and in fact harassed the family even more. Unable to put up with this, Muthu, along with his wife and children, came to the collector's office to air his grievances. The couple then poured kerosene and set themselves and their kids ablaze. MUNGER (Bihar): An intercity train ran over five women on Monday morning, four of whom died on the spot, prompting a protest by the locals that disrupted traffic for a few hours, a police official said.
The incident took place near the Adalpur Halt when the women were crossing the tracks on their way home after taking bath at a nearby ghat, Munger Superintendent of Police Ashish Bharti said. They might have failed to notice the approaching Bhagalpur-danapur Intercity train due to heavy morning fog, the SP said. "Four of them died on spot and another received serious injuries. The injured woman was taken to the Munger Sadar Hospital," he said.
Enraged over the incident, people from a nearby village gathered at the spot and squatted on the tracks, preventing the bodies from being removed, Bharti said. CHANDIGARH: Consumers will have to shell out more for electricity as sectoral regulator Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) on Monday announced a hike in power tariff by 9.33 per cent for 2017-18.
However, opposition parties AAP, SAD and BJP condemned the hike in power tariff, saying the Congress government had yet again "deceived" people by increasing tariff for both domestic and industrial supply.
The new tariff order will be implemented with retrospective effect from April 1 this year.
Although the increase in electricity charges will be recovered from consumers in installments over a period of nine months, said PSERC chairperson Kusumjit Kaur Sidhu here today.
As per new tariff, the tariff for domestic consumers has been increased between 7 per cent and 12 per cent. The proposed increase has been in the range of 46 paise per unit to 80 paise per unit.
For industrial sector, the power tariff has been increased by 8.50 per cent to 12 per cent while for commercial category, the electricity rates have been jacked up by 8 to 11 per cent, PSERC chairperson said.
For industrial category, the increase per unit is in the range of 54 paise to 65 paise per unit and for commercial sector, the proposed increase is in the range of 57 paise to 72 paise per unit.
For the agriculture sector, the proposed tariff has been increased by 48 paise per unit to 506 paise a unit.
Notably, farmers are provided free power by the government. The state government has pegged the subsidy burden on account of free power at Rs 6,000 crore for 2017-18.
For the bulk supply, the power rate has been increased in the range of 10.52 per cent to 11.08 per cent.
The fixed charges will be in the range of Rs 20 per kw to Rs 60 KVA for domestic supply, Rs 50 to 100 per KVA for commercial supply and Rs 85 to 295 per KVA for industrial category including bulk supply, as per the order.
The hike in power tariff was announced after a gap of three years, said the PSERC chairperson.
Addressing media persons here, Sidhu said the consolidated gap of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited was worked out at Rs 2,522.62 crore against power utility's proposal of Rs 11,575.53 crore.
"This new tariff is fixed for one year 2017-18," said the chairperson.