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Saffron Buddha draws teachers’ ire
A Buddha statue made of cement and concrete and installed at the main gate of the College of Arts and Crafts in Lucknow University, was found painted in ‘saffron’ colour, leaving teachers and students shocked.
It was later found that a worker, assigned the task of painting, painted the 60-year-old statue in saffron by mistake.
College principal Ratan Kumar said: “A painter who knew nothing about the statue painted it in saffron. The moment the matter came to my notice I got the mistake rectified and the statue has been painted in white. We have been working hard to beautify the campus. Teachers should appreciate our efforts as well,”
The Buddha statue was made by renowned sculptor Avtar Singh Panwar in the late 1950s.
Renovation work is being carried out on the campus ahead of foundation day celebrations.
Meanwhile, the teachers criticisd the administration for being ignorant about the importance of a historical work and disturbing its original form.
A senior faculty member said: “It is sad that the statue which is not just a piece of art but has a history associated with it, was painted making it lose its true essence.”
Fake Army captain held for duping people in UP
The UP Special Task Force (STF) has arrested one Ankit Mishra, who duped several persons on pretext of arranging jobs in the Army after posing as captain.
He was arrested from near PGI crossing late on Wednesday.
The STF had received a tip off on this from the Military Intelligence (MI).
Deputy Superintendent of Police, STF, Deepak Kumar Singh said the accused, identified as Ankit Mishra, 40, used to roam outside the Army canteen in the Army uniform.
“The attire had all the insignia resembling a real Army officer. Mishra has been doing this fraud for three years. He used to demand Rs 10 lakh each from job-seekers. He had recently taken Rs 5 lakh from one Baliram, a resident of Sant Kabir Nagar and Rs 5 lakh from Rahul, a resident of Etah, for getting them appointed as clerks in the Army canteen,” the DSP said.
Both were called outside the canteen to receive the fake appointment letters.
“The two were asked to bring Rs 6 lakh but as they could not arrange the money. Mishra showed them the photocopy of the fake appointment letter and told them once they would clear the amount, the letters would be sent to their residential addresses,” Singh said.
The SP added that Mishra’s wife works in the state police department. The accused said that he had duped 12 people in last two years.
Protest in TN over fishermen arrests by SL Navy
Fishermen in Tamil Nadu’s Myladuthurai have staged a protest over the arrest of 11 fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.
The fishermen were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). Their mechanised boat was also confiscated.
The fishermen, including the owner of the boat S. Rajkumar, had ventured into the sea from Karaikkal port on December 18.
Of the 11, six are from Karaikkal and five from Myladuthurai.
Senthilanthan, a fisherman while attending the protest, told IANS that the fishing boats from Tamil Nadu do not reach the Sri Lankan waters intentionally but instead wade into the Sri Lankan side due to rough weather and unforeseen natural conditions.
Fishermen association leaders have also sent requests to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and also Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy to intervene in the matter.
The Sri Lankan Navy have taken the fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to the Kankesanthurai fishing harbour and they are in the custody of a local fishing inspector.
The 11 fishermen will be produced before a local magistrate court.
The families of fishermen taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy have also requested the two Chief Ministers to intervene on behalf of the arrested fishermen and to secure their release along with the fishing gear and the mechanized boat.
Srinagar freezes at minus 5.5, coldest this season so far
The 40-day long period of harsh winter cold, called the ‘Chillai Kalan’ in local parlance, started on a frozen note for the people in J&K’s Srinagar city who faced the coldest night of this season so far on Thursday at minus 5.5 degree Celsius as the minimum temperature.
“With minus 5.5 as the minimum temperature today, Srinagar recorded the coldest night of the season so far. Dry cold weather is likely to continue in J&K and Ladakh during the next 24 hours,” an official of the Meteorological (MeT) department said.
Srinagar had minus 5.5, Pahalgam minus 6.8 and Gulmarg minus 5.2 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature.
In Ladakh region, Kargil had minus 12.8 and Leh had minus 12 as the minimum temperature.
Jammu had 7.5, Katra 5.6, Batote 1.1, Banihal minus 1.2 and Bhaderwah 0.9 as the minimum temperature.
Man kills child, hit by speeding vehicle while trying to escape
A young man killed a four-year-old boy but destiny caught up with him and he was hit by a speeding vehicle while trying to escape.
The police found Naresh, the accused, critically injured on the Delhi-Lucknow national highway. He was rushed to a hospital where he died during treatment.
According to a police report, one Naeem Begh, a labourer, had lodged a complaint saying that his son Subhaan was murdered and that his nephew Amaan was grievously injured by his friend Naresh Lal.
Naeem said that Naresh, a resident of Kishanganj in Bihar, used to work as a labourer with him and his brother Faheem in Kashmir. Naresh had come to Bareilly to attend Faheem’s marriage on December 19.
On Wednesday afternoon, Naresh took both the children towards a sugarcane field, and when the children did not return for nearly two hours, the family started searching for them and found them lying unconscious.
Both of them were rushed to a nearby hospital where Subhaan was declared dead by the doctors. Amaan is in a critical condition, said officials.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) (city) Rahul Bhati said that “after lodging an FIR under section 302 (murder), we found that Naresh was hit by a speeding vehicle and he died during treatment. The case is under investigation”.
