INDIAN RESCUED FROM LIBYA

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday night said Doctor Ramamurthy Kosanam, an Indian who was kidnapped in Libya 18 months ago, has been rescued .

Swaraj said Dr Kosanam, who has suffered a bullet injury, will be brought back to India shortly.

Lauding the mission, Swaraj took to her Twitter handle to share that with the rescue of Dr Kosanam, they have found out all the six Indian abducted.

Dr Kosanam hails from a village of Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh and was working as a physician in the Lbn-e-Sina Hospital when he was abducted by Islamic State militants in 2015. He was working in Libya since 1999.

Large swathes of Libya and Syria are under the control of the extremist Islamic State. The Indian government had advised its citizens to leave Libya in July, 2014.

Power minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday cited a probe report that alleged Uttar Pradesh government was discriminating on the basis of religion in supplying power.

“If there are 5 houses on a street, they are probably leaving two houses, even those that are on the same power line,” Goyal said. “They are not given power because of their community. This was a serious charge so I directed the state government that they should investigate.”

Sarvesh Kumar, BJP MP from Moradabad, had initially lodged a complaint to the power ministry. On the basis of his allegations, a probe was ordered.

Kumar’s complaint said that there were many areas in Moradabad where power lines are being laid down but connections are being given to only people of one community.

The power ministry directed the state government to conduct an inquiry. The state government dismissed the charges. Kumar was not satisfied with the answer and forwarded his complaint to the Prime Minister.

A high-level committee was sent to Moradabad by the power ministry to investigate. “When the committee sent its report to the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) they found the charges to be true that in Moradabad there are many areas where even in supplying power there is discrimination,” he said.

Once this came to light many other MPs came forward with similar complaints, Goyal said. Some of them have alleged that money that was sought to be used under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana was going only to some villages, according to the minister.

“This discrimination based on caste and religion is a serious issue,” Goyal said.

SARVESH KUMAR, BJP MP FROM MORADABAD, HAD INITIALLY LODGED A COMPLAINT TO THE POWER MINISTRY ABOUT THE BIAS IN SERVICES