LIVE updates: 16 killed, 36 injured in fire in Tamil Nadu cracker factory
Fire in the factory broke out when some chemicals were being mixed to produce firecrackers. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news
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Sixteen dead after fire broke out at a firecracker factory in Tamil Nadu | Photo: ANI
The ‘Sree Maariyamman fireworks’ factory had stored firecrackers in a room that caught fire and led to the explosion, the Indian Express website reported. Police told the website the explosion happened at around 1:30 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased, writing on Twitter to express his condolences.
Earlier in the day, a Supreme Court-appointed committee today met 12 farmer unions and cultivators from eight states on three farm laws that sparked protests when they were enacted in September.
In Mumbai, a court granted bail to the former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar with a rider that she cannot leave the country with its permission. Two more bodies were recovered from the flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, taking the death toll in the calamity to 38.
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Uttarakhand disaster: 'Temporary lake' triggers concern, rescue workers battle odds
The confirmed death toll in Sunday's flash flood in the Alaknanda river system in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district climbed to 38 after the recovery of two more bodies and 166 people still remain missing.
Tamil Nadu fire: Death toll rises to 16, 33 people hospitalised
Punjab's people should give AAP chance to implement Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal model: Sisodia
Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday urged the people of Punjab to give his party a chance to form the next government in the state for implementation of welfare schemes like that in Delhi, according to a PTI copy. Arvind Kejriwal's government in Delhi has done such welfare works for the people which the Congress and the BJP never imagined, he told reporters here.
Sisosia said the people in Delhi have been provided better health facilities in government hospitals and better education in government schools compared to private facilities. Free electricity and water have been provided round the clock in Delhi, he said. The Delhi deputy chief minister appealed to the people of Punjab to give a chance to the Aam Aadmi Party once so that the Delhi model would be implemented in the state. As per PTI, Sisodia said "Two types of politics are going on. One is of the Congress, BJP and the Akalis which are running their businesses and filling their coffers with the tax money paid by the people.
"On the other hand, there is the politics of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is spending tax money paid by people for the development of the people. An example of this can be seen in Delhi where hospitals and schools were built with new technologies and facilities, with the tax money of the people," he said.
Protesters won't return home till agreement is reached: Rakesh Tikait
BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Friday revealed plans by farmer leaders to hold meetings in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat and said protesters in Delhi will not return home until the Centre reaches an agreement with them, according to PTI. It was not immediately clear if the remark made at a "mahapanchayat" here was a climb down from Tikait's earlier assertion that there will be no ghar wapsi unless the laws are withdrawn. The government has been telling farmer unions to consider an option other than the complete repeal of the laws.
As per PTI, he said the government will have to talk with the farmer unions' committee spearheading the agitation against the laws. This agitation will continue until the Government of India talks to the committee and arrives at an agreement. Till that time, farmers will not return home, he said addressing a mahapanchayat organised by the Dalal Khap 84 near the Tikri border. He also claimed the agitation is spread across the country and not limited to Punjab, Haryana or Uttar Pradesh as being projected by some.
More mahapanchayats will be held in coming days, he said, adding that they will go to Gujarat as well. Tikait alleged that farmers from Gujarat were being pressured not to lend support to the agitation.
Tourist bus fell off a hill in Visakhapatnam, four feared dead
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First Published: Feb 12 2021 | 7:03 AM IST