PM flags off UDAN scheme with cheap Shimla-delhi flight

PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi on Thursday flagged off country’s first low-cost flight under the Centre’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme at the Jubbarhatti airport on the outskirts of Shimla. The flight from Shimla to Delhi will cost Rs 1,920 under the scheme.

Shimla has got its air connectivity back after a long gap. Kingfisher Airlines was the last commercial airline to have operated regular flights to Shimla till operations were suspended four and a half years ago. The airport at Jubbarhatti, which is 22 km from Shimla, has been shut for scheduled flights since 2012 after soil erosion led to shrinking of the runway. But now with UDAN putting the Himachal capital back on the country’s aviation map, it has brought cheer to the tourism industry.

The Prime Minister on Thursday also flagged off the inaugural UDAN flights on Kadapa-hyderabad and Nanded-hyderabad sectors through video-link.

On each flight, 50 per cent of the seats would have a cap of Rs 2,500 per seat in one-hour flights as per the new scheme launched by the NDA government.

Speaking at the event, PM said: “Hawai chappal wala aam nagrik bhi hawai safar kar sakega (Now a person wearing common slippers will be able to travel in the airplane).”

He also drew a parallel with taxi fare in the hills and asserted that travelling in the low-cost planes under the UDAN will be cheaper than a road journey in a taxi. There is plan to provide this facility at 70 airports, of which 30 will be connected in the first phase.

Flight to Delhi from Shimla undertheudanwillcostrs1,920 for 50 per cent of the seats . TAKING COGNIZANCE of a Congress leader’s petition alleging malpractices during the February 15 Assembly elections in Vikasnagar constituency, the Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday ordered the judicial magistrate to seize the EVMS used in the Assembly segment and keep them in custody.

The petition seeking examination of the EVMS and declaring the elections null and void was filed on March 22 by Navprabhat who lost to BJP’S Munna Singh Chauhan by over 6,000 votes.

The single judge bench of Justice Servesh Kumar Gupta also issued notices to the Election Commission, the Government of India, District Election Officer, Returning Officer and the BJP candidate, and asked them to reply within six weeks.

“We had filed a petition, citing circumstantial evidence. The High Court has taken cognizance of my petition and ordered the Vikasnagar Judicial Magistrate to take the EVMS in his custody and seal them,” Navprabhat told The Indian Express.

Explaining the circumstantial evidence which he had mentioned in his petition, Navprabhat said: “We noted movement of outsiders and subsequently filed an FIR. Then on March 2, Raju Binjola, an aide of Chauhan, prepared a detailed election result and posted it on Facebook. This result gave a village-wise breakup of the votes polled for me, the BJP candidate and Independents. He proved almost correct.”

In the Facebook post, Binjola predicted 32,572 votes for Navprabhat, who actually polled 32,477 — just 95 less than his prediction. He predicted 37,590 votes for Chauhan, and he got 38,895.

According to Navprabhat, Binjola had predicted votes for 33 localities and he proved accurate for every village. He said that “not just in Vikasnagar, there was a similar pattern of tampering all across the state”.

“How could he get such an accuracy? The only minor difference is that Munna Singh Chauhan got nearly 1,000 more votes than he had predicted, while others got 1,000 less than his prediction,” the Congress leader, who was the transport minister in the previous Harish Rawat government, said.

Chauhan termed Navprabhat’s allegations as “baseless” and an “insult to the Election Commission”. “We respect the judicial process. But the Congress’s allegation is an insult to the people’s mandate and the Election Commission and the Constitution. They must accept that the Congress has been completely rejected by the people in the state. Instead of realising it, they are looking for such baseless things,” Chauhan said.

When asked about Binjola’s Facebook post, Chauhan said, “I made predictions for 60 seats, and we got 57 seats accurate. Can the election be quashed on this basis? Many people speculate about the results. If you raise allegations on the basis of such speculation, then no election can be held in the future.”

The EC is required to keep the data on EVMS secure for 45 days after the election results are announced and April 25 was the 45th day since election results were announced on March 11. EC officials said that it was highly unlikely that the data in the EVMS have been erased.

Dehradun DM and District Election Officer Ravinath Raman said that he was yet to receive the courtorder.“wewillcomplywith the judicial process,” he added.