The deceased, Ved Prakash Yadav, 35, leaves behind his wife and two children, bereft of a future all because the state-run transport could not pay him his salary for two months.

Yadav, a resident of Dataura village of Baberu Kotwali in Banda district, was a bus driver in UP Transport Roadways for the past eight years but struggled since June to make ends meet because he had no money. The UPSRTC had not paid him along with several hundred bus drivers and conductors and they were forced to borrow money from money lenders.

Yadav, according to his colleagues, took a bus from Banda to Prayagraj Zero Road depot. The passengers and conductor deboarded the bus when it reached its destination, but the driver stayed there and later allegedly hanged himself in the bus with a ‘gamcha’. The conductor of another bus saw the driver hanging and raised an alarm. Some officials also reached the spot and the police were informed.

The driver, as per police, had last spoken to his wife at around 12:30 a.m on Sunday and was found hanging inside the bus at around 1 p.m.

DSP Rakesh Singh said that initial police investigation revealed that Yadav had killed himself. He said the body had been sent for post-mortem and efforts were on to ascertain the reason behind the extreme act.

Lavlesh, the brother-in-law of the driver, told NewsClick that Ved Prakash was under tension as he was on contract and some officers had allegedly been demanding money to extend his tenure His wife gave him some money but the demand was high and he was unable to fulfil it. Besides, he was not paid salary for the past two months.

Yadav’s wife accused roadways officials for harassing her husband continuously. “They used to threaten to fire him. They were demanding bribes to renew his contract for which I had borrowed money from relatives, but they were demanding more. He was also not paid a salary for the past two months,” she said.

The Roadways Karmchari Sanyukt Parishad lambasted the state government and the UPSRTC for their callousness.

Mohd. Naseem, a conductor and Yadav’s colleague, alleged that they were being exploited by UPSRTC officers and some employees of the department. He said Ved Prakash Yadav was not paid salary for two months. “For this we also filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court. Investigation is going on,” Naseem told NewsClick, alleging that this was also the reason for Yadav’s suicide,

Last week, the UPSRTC workers, including bus drivers and conductors, had blocked the regional manager’s office in Lucknow and handed over a 25-point memorandum to the General Manager, Roadways, demanding immediate redressal of their long-pending demands.

Among others, the demands include contractual drivers and bus conductors be paid salaries on the same pay scale, regularisation after one year’s service, stopping the operation of private vehicles and unauthorised buses plying on the national highway due to which the government is suffering a loss in revenue. The other key demands included salary parity with other departments, facilities like ESI and PF, the inclusion of workers in arbitration committees.

They also threatened a statewide strike and stopping operation of buses on September 27 if their demands were not fulfilled.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post UP: Pending Salary, Alleged Harassment, UPSRTC Contract Bus Driver Dies by Suicide appeared first on SabrangIndia.

SP national president Akhilesh Yadav said in a tweet on X, “Ghosi has not only made the SP candidate win but it also is the victory of the INDIA coalition candidate. And now this will be the outcome of the approaching tomorrow (2024).”

Over two dozen ministers along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had campaigned for Chauhan in the bypoll, following reports of discontent among the public over Chauhan’s frequent party-hopping.

Of the nearly 4.38 lakh voters in Ghosi, 90,000 are Muslims, 60,000 dalits and 77,000 from the “upper castes” — 45,000 bhumihars, 16,000 rajputs and 6,000 brahmins, according to estimates.

Besides the Congress and the Left parties, SP’s Singh, who was taking on Chauhan, also has the support of INDIA bloc members Aam Aadmi Party, the CPI(ML)-Liberation and the Suheldev Swabhiman Party (SSP) — a splinter group of the SBSP.

Speaking with NewsClick, Sannu Azmi, a senior journalist in Ghosi, said despite over two dozen ministers, including two deputy chief ministers, senior BJP leaders and office-bearers, campaigning for nearly two weeks in the constituency, moving from one village to another and canvassing for the party candidate, the saffron party lost the seat with a big margin.

“Dara Singh Chauhan was never in the fight. There are multiple reasons behind the defeat. First, during urban body polls, BJP fielded Ajay Rai for the post of chairperson from Mau who had left Bahujan Samaj Party three years ago to join BJP due to which there was palpable anger among party workers. Kumar lost the election by 40,000 votes to BSP candidate Arshad Jamal. Mau is also the hometown of UP energy minister AK Sharma. The party high command did not learn from its previous mistake and repeated the same in the bypoll and fielded another parachute candidate, Dara Singh Chauhan, who crossed over to the saffron party from SP,” he said, explaining the people’s discontent.

Talking about another local aspect of the saffron party’s defeat, Azmi said, “Local BJP leaders distanced themselves from campaigning for Chauhan and there was anger against Om Prakash Rajbhar (of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party) as he would have immediately taken credit for the victory if BJP had won the election. Furthermore, the core supporters of BJP did not step out to use their franchise.”

When asked about who the dalit could have voted for since the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has not fielded any candidate, Azmi said that vote percentage was less than the last election but after analysing the trend, it seems the SP captured 50-60% dalit votes.

The Ghosi bypoll was a prestige issue for BJP, as it had lost the seat in the 2022 Assembly elections. Chauhan had then defeated BJP candidate Vijay Kumar Rajbhar. Now, with Chauhan back in the BJP camp, the party made an all-out effort to wrest the seat that it won in the 2017 Assembly elections but could not succeed.

Polling in Ghosi constituency was held on Tuesday. The campaign witnessed verbal sparring between SP and the BJP, accusing each other of breach of the model code of conduct. Akhilesh Yadav and his party accused the security forces of acting at the behest of the ruling party and allowing Muslim voters to use their franchise, as reported by NewsClick.

Chauhan had wrested the seat from BJP whose Phagu Chauhan won it for the party in the 2017 Assembly polls. Post Chauhan’s nomination as governor of Bihar in 2019, Vijay Rajbhar ensured that BJP continued to occupy the seat in the bypolls that followed.

In the 2022 Assembly elections, the current BJP candidate, Chauhan, had defeated then BJP’s Vijay Kumar Rajbhar by a margin of 22,216 votes. Ghosi recorded a polling percentage of 58.59% this time.

Commenting on SP’s victory, Haji Ghufran, a Communist Party of India (CPI) leader in Ghosi, told NewsClick, “The administration and ruling party ministers terrorise the minority community so much that people made up their minds to vote against BJP.”

The CPI leader believes the “wave of change” has started from Ghosi and the effect will be visible in Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Ghosi Bypoll: Sudhakar Singh’s Victory not Only SP’s Win but INDIA’s too, Says Akhilesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A circular issued by Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police, dated August 14, says that an analysis of records showed that crimes increased at night one week before “amavasya” (moonless night or new moon) in the “Krishna Paksha” (dark phase), as well as the week after it.

The order, a copy of which is with NewsClick, categorically states, “On analysing the incidents that happened in all the districts… of the state at the headquarters level, it was found that more incidents happen at night one week before and one week after the new moon date of the Hindu calendar. This analysis should be done every month at the level of senior police officers,” the circular, issued along with a copy of Panchang said.”

The circular said the new moon is set to occur on August 16, September 14 and October 14, and officers should remain alert a week before and after it.

A week before and a week after the date of ‘amavasya’, crime mapping should be done,” the circular said. It added that night patrolling should be carried out more “effectively”. To understand this better, a copy of Hindu ‘Panchang’ calendar is also attached along with this circular, the circular reads further.

“Effective crime prevention is one of the top priorities of the police. Through strong policing, an environment of security has to be established among the common citizens in the state. For this, it is necessary that night patrolling should be done more and more effectively, so that the general public can have a sense of confidence in their security,” it said.

The DGP asked police officers to identify crime hotspots and map criminal incidents during this period to formulate a plan to address these concerns. Kumar also directed the local police to design the route plan for Police Response Vehicles (PRV) in accordance with the crime incident analysis. Furthermore, the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) and Dial 112 are to be on alert mode as per the circular’s instructions.

Meanwhile, the DGP’s order to curb crime as per Panchang has triggered a debate in the state.

Vibhuti Narain Rai, former Director General of Police, UP, told NewsClick that there was no need to mention the Hindu almanac in the circular.

“It is a fact that crime used to increase a week before Amavasya in the Krishna Paksha and a week after, as every night after a full moon day, the size of the moon keeps decreasing. When I was a police officer from 1978 to 1995, we also increased patrolling, especially in rural areas. The reason was that there was no road and electricity in rural areas and dacoities occurred in such areas. But now I haven’t heard of robberies as villages are connected with tar roads and power is supplied at night. It is foolish to talk about the Hindu Panchang. Maybe it was said to please a section,” he said.

Rai said the “DGP must have some data which prove his claims that crime increased at night one week before new moon as well as the week after it. Our country has progressed both in terms of structural changes (electricity and road).”

Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer SR Darapuri said, “The police department conducts the crime mapping exercise for identifying areas from where maximum cases of theft, burglary, and robberies are reported. The police put a factor time, date and place while mapping and getting indications. Thereafter, an officer makes a policy to prevent crimes. It is a fact that the dark fortnight falls during amavasya and crime increases in that period but using the word, Panchang, does not make sense.”

Another former IPS officer, Amitabh Thakur, said it was clearly visible that for seven years since the advent of the current BJP government in UP, every worthy officer fears losing out in case the Chief Minister gets annoyed with him/her. This sounds like we are still living in some medieval era where superstition and mythologies rule the roost. In short, a section of officers is acting to please their political master and propelling his political agenda, completely intermixed with religious overtones.”

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post UP: DGP’s Circular Asks Officers to Use Hindu ‘Panchang’, Cites Rise in Crime During ‘Amavasya’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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Tension escalated as local residents stopped officials who had arrived for the land survey. After facing strong resistance by local people, the bulldozer and police force were forced to retreat. However, several villagers sustained injuries during the incident.
THE INCIDENT

On Tuesday, a team of VDA and revenue officials, accompanied by police personnel, reached the Karnadadi and Bairwan area of Mohan Sarai locality for demarcation of land that belonged to farmers. However, farmers refused to give their land, and accused the officials of violating the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.

As per reports, people began pelting stones at the officials and police, after which cops resorted to lathi charge and used teargas. Some local people alleged that police entered houses and beat up women and children. Several police officers and protesting farmers, including women, suffered injuries during the scuffle.

After about an hour, the police evicted the protesters as well as cleared glass pieces and stones from the road. After this, the survey process was stopped.

A case has been registered against 11 people under different Sections of Indian Penal Code, including rioting.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Varuna Zone, Manish Shandilya, told mediapersons that it was on the instructions of the government that the encroachment action was being conducted in the presence of police. He claimed that some unruly persons pelted stones, hence the police used mild force to stop them.

Meanwhile, security was tightened in the locality to avoid any untoward incident, he added.

In 2001, the process for the acquisition of land for the proposed Transport Nagar was finalised with the issuance of Ssection-6. About 82 hectares land of four villages, including Mohansarai and Kannadadi, was proposed to be acquired for the project.

However, the farmers claimed that the land for which the compensation was given should be surveyed. Furthermore, most of the farmers said they had not received compensation for their land.

“Many people have not got compensation for the land that was surveyed earlier and now VDA officials are surveying the new land. We will not give our land without compensation, even if they shoot us,” Raj Patel, a farmer, told NewsClick over the phone.

Kishun Patel, whose about 2 bighas land has gone to Transport Nagar project, said he had not received any compensation till now.

“Why would I allow the survey when even after year I have not received the compensation. This is dictatorship and we will not let this happen,” he told NewsClick.

The police allegedly barged into homes of farmers and roughed up women and children. They alleged that not a single female cop was accompanying the police.

“We were watching television when the scuffle took place between the police and the farmers. Suddenly, police entered our village, barged into our houses and beat whoever came their way,” Sushma Patel told NewsClick. 

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Varanasi: Land Survey Bid Triggers Clashes, Several Injured, 11 Farmers Arrested appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Some BSP members, led by former MLA Harpal Singh, whose wife is a mayor candidate, alleged that BJP members were booth capturing and also claimed that Muslim voters were not being allowed inside certain booths. While BJP supporters alleged that ‘Burqa-clad women’ were indulging in fake voting in Amroha. However, this charge was denied by the district magistrate.

“Over a dozen people were injured in clashes between BJP and BSP supporters in Gajraula and over a dozen from both sides were arrested,” a police officer told NewsClick over the phone.

Similar reports poured in from the Lucknow Municipal Corporation Zone-2 area and Prayagraj, where supporters of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and BJP clashed over issues relating to voting.

Some SP supporters alleged bias, saying that strict action was being taken only against the Opposition inside the polling booths and alleged that Muslim voters, especially burqa-clad women, were not allowed to cast their votes. They also alleged that multiple scrutiny by the district administration had forced women to stay at home.

Abdul Wahid, SP district president in Saharanpur, alleged that central security forces were harassing Muslim voters in the name of ID checks (Aadhar card) with the “aim to reduce the polling percentage”.

In a letter written to party president Akhilesh Yadav, Wahid said, “In  Muslim and dalit majority areas, voters are being intimidated and prevented from going to booths from exercising their rights in the name of checking Aadhaar cards.”

“Paramilitary forces in Muslim majority areas in Saharanpur are sending back Muslim and dalit voters from polling booths. The voters had documents, including voter ID and slip, but the police officers were insisting they bring their Aadhaar card,” Wahid told NewsClick. 

The SP leader alleged that at polling booths — JBM Inter College and JB Jain Inter College, Islamia Inter College, Islamia Girls College – security forces were preventing Muslim voters from exercising their franchise.

Imran Masood, a BSP leader and former MLA from Muzzafarabad seat in Saharanpur district, told NewsClick, “There is no need of conducting elections if Muslims are not allowed to cast their votes. People have been queuing up since 6 in the morning carrying three ID proofs, yet are not being allowed to exercise franchise. Everyone’s nomination should have been rejected and BJP should have been declared unopposed.”

Masood also shared multiple videos (seen by NewsClick but not independently verified) from his official Twitter account showing never-ending queues outside the booths waiting for their turn to cast their vote.

According to the State Election Commission (SEC), polls in 37 districts are underway in the first phase of the polls on Thursday to elect 7,593 representatives, including 10 mayors and 820 corporators.

A total of 44,232 candidates are in the fray in the first phase and more than 2.40 crore people are eligible to vote. Out of this, 1.12 crore voters are women and 1.27 crore are male voters. Polls are being held for 103 posts of nagarpalika parishad chairperson and 2,740 nagarpalika parishad members.

Polling for the second-phase is scheduled to take place on May 11 and the counting will take place on May 13.

The ruling BJP won an unprecedented 14 out of 16 mayoral seats in the urban local bodies elections in 2017. BSP won two seats, Meerut and Aligarh, while SP and Congress could not open their accounts.

The saffron party had won 11 of the 13 mayoral seats in 2012.
MUSLIM NAMES ‘MISSING’ FROM VOTER’s LIST

Despite going through the cumbersome process of filling the mandatory M-Forms and carrying voter IDs, a large number of Muslim voters complained that they had to return dejected from the polling booths as their names were missing from the voters’ lists.

NewsClick spoke to more than a dozen Muslim voters, including professors, journalists and doctors, who found their name missing despite having voted in the last Assembly polls, 2019 Lok Sabha polls and even previous local body polls.

Asad Rizvi, a journalist in Lucknow, said he did not find his name in the electoral list, saying he and his wife had been casting their votes for a long time.

“Grave errors like omission of names from voter lists is a violation of basic fundamental rights. Interestingly, both names were there on the voters’ list during the 2022 Assembly election, 2019 Lok Sabha election and we even exercised our franchise in the previous urban body polls,” Rizvi told NewsClick. 

Danish, another resident of Lucknow’s Khurram Nagar told NewsClick: “We are four members in the family and this has never happened that everyone’s name is missing from the voter list. I, along with my father, went to the local booth but returned after not finding our names in the voter list. Even our neighbours, who have been voting for many years, were disappointed not seeing their names in the list.”

The situation in neighbouring Unnao and Kanpur was not any better; nor in Western Uttar Pradesh where Muslims are sizable in number. These are the areas from where the first voices were heard about Muslim names ‘missing’ from electoral rolls.

Several Muslim voters in Gorakhpur also had to return home without casting their votes.

“Names of entire family members are neither on the voters’ list nor on the deleted list. We had to return from the polling booth after not finding our names,” Rizwan, a voter in the Gorakhnath area, told NewsClick. 

This reporter and his family members also had to return from a polling booth in Gomti Nagar after finding their names missing from the voter list.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post UP Civic Polls: Clashes Reported in Amroha, Lucknow; Several Muslim Voters’ Names ‘Missing’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: PTI
 

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