2 SENT TO JUDICIAL CUSTODY IN PRAGATI MAIDAN CASE

A Delhi court on Friday remanded in judicial custody two persons arrested in a case of alleged corruption in 2,150 crore redevelopment project of ITPO Complex at Pragati Maidan in which NBCC CMD Anoop Mittal is also an accused.

Duty magistrate Ambika Singh sent government officials, Pradeep Mishra and Akashdeep Chouhan, who allegedly delivered the bribe, to judicial custody till January 12 after they were produced before the court on expiry of their CBI remand.

The CBI custody of other two accused, Sanjay Kulkarni, MD of Capacite Structures, and Ghaziabadbased middleman Rishabh Agrawal, will end tomorrow.

The agency has booked Mittal, Kulkarni, Agrawal, Mishra and Chouhan in the case on December 22. As per the FIR, the contract to redevelop ITPO was awarded to Shapoorji Pallonji and o. Company Pvt. Ltd and Shapoorji Pallonji Qatar WLL for 2,149.93 crore. To ward off the effects of air pollution, the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, on Friday, rolled out a campaign to distribute N- 95 masks to all high risk patients visiting the hospital for the next one week.

According to Dr Rajeev Sood, the dean of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital ( RMLH), patients who already are battling with lung and other problem are more likely to have their condition worsened with the extreme pollution levels, which could be even life threatening for them.

“Taking precautionary measures such as wearing mask can help them breathe easier and reduce exposure to the toxic ambient air. Such initiatives are very crucial in current times when the weather condition has deteriorated to such dangerous levels,” said Dr Sood.

The drive to distribute anti- pollution masks at the hospital in order to reach the maximum number of patients in need will continue throughout the week. As part of its corporate social responsibility initiative, Blueair will distribute more than 1,000 N- 95 masks to patients with respiratory and other problems to help minimise the health impacts of pollution.

“It is our aim to reach out to maximum number of patients in this hour of need and ensure their safety is the need of the hour. The overall idea behind this initiative is to ensure that people are not exposed to the toxic level of air pollution and help the highrisk patients, especially those who gasp for breath due to high pollution levels breathe easier,” said Arvind Chabra, the head ( India) of Blueair.