SAMBALPUR MONDAY AUGUST 19, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 12 CITY EDITION FSSAI PROJECT TO STUDY MICROPLASTIC CONTAMINATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched a project to assess microplastic contamination in food products AIM IS TO GENERATE DATA SPECIFIC TO INDIA 12% SPICES SOLD IN INDIA FAIL SAFETY TESTS The project aims to develop standard protocols for the analysis of micro and nanoplastics in food products and generate data on exposure levels among consumers in India. “This project will help understand the extent of microplastic contamination in Indian food and guide the formulation of effective regulations and safety standards,” the food regulator said ■ ■ Close to 12% of spices tested in India failed to meet quality and safety standards set by FSSAI, Reuters news agency reported citing the data it obtained under India’s Right to Information Act The data shows 474 of 4,054 samples tested by FSSAI between May and July didn’t meet quality and safety parameters, Reuters reported 14.5% SHIPMENTS OF A POPUALR INDIAN SPICE BRAND REJECTED BY U.S. SINCE 2022: REUTERS CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI SC takes suo motu cognisance of Kolkata case CJI-led bench to hear matter on Tuesday; protests against rape-murder of trainee doctor at RG Kar hospital get bigger S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi AMID widespread outrage over the brutal rape and murder of a resident doctor of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the case and decided to hear the matter on Tuesday Mean. while, junior doctors in several states remained off-duty on Sunday disrupting healthcare services. According to the cause list of August 20 uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website on Sunday a bench of Chief Justice D , Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will hear the matter titled ‘In Re: Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata and related issue’. Several letter petitions have been filed with the Supreme Court urging it to take up the case on a suo-motu basis, given the “brutal and horrific nature” of the incident. One such letter petition was filed by Dr Monica Singh of Army College of Dental Sciences, Secunderabad, Telangana, seeking the SC’s urgent intervention following a series of alarming incidents of bru- Coast Guard DG dies of cardiac arrest in Chennai E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai DIRECTOR General of Indian Coast Guard Rakesh Pal (59) passed away due to cardiac arrest in Chennai on Sunday afternoon. Pal, who took charge as the 25th Indian Coast Guard (ICG) chief on July 19 last year, was in the city for the inauguration of the state-of-the-art Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre building by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday . The officer suffered a cardiac arrest before the inauguration event and was rushed to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital where he was declared dead. The Defence Minister, who was in Chennai to release a commemorative coin to mark Kalaignar M Karunanidhi’s birth centenary, visited the hospital and paid his last respects. Sources said the mortal remains of the officer will be flown to New Delhi soon. “He was an able and committed officer under whose leadership ICG was making big strides in strengthening India’s maritime security,” the minister said. MHA seeks updates every 2 hours Union home ministry has asked states to send situation reports every two hours. “A continuous two-hourly law and order situation report in this regard may kindly be sent to the MHA control room by fax/ email/ WhatsApp,” the communication said tal attacks on medical professionals, the latest one being the RG Kar hospital incident. The letter petition, accessed by this newspaper, filed through advocate Satyam Singh, said the rape-murder and subsequent attacks on the RG Kar Medical College on August 14 “ severely disrupted hospital operations and created an atmosphere of fear among medical staff. There must be immediate deployment of Central Forces to protect R.G. Kar Medical College and its staff ”. The Calcutta High Court had on August 13 ordered transfer of the case and investigation from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), citing laxity on the part of the local police. The HC transferred the investigation to the CBI after hearing petitions filed by the victim’s pare n t s a n d s e ve r a l o t h e r individuals. Football fans clash with police during protest E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kolkata PROTESTS against the horrific rape and murder of a medic at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital spilled on to the streets on Sunday after the police clamped prohibitory orders and cancelled the much-anticipated football match between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium. The police action united supporters of traditional arch rivals of the two century-old clubs. In a rare show of solidarity, the supporters— men, women, young and old—of both clubs gathered at the stadium, with the slogan ‘We want justice’ reverberating in the air. Around 4pm on Sunday the fans , started assembling in front of the VIP Gate of the Saltlake Staidum where the Durand Cup derby match was scheduled but called off by the administration, fearing security concerns. Outside the Saltlake Stadium, India defender and Mohun Bagan captain Subhasish Bose, accompanied by his wife Kasturi Chetri, and All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey joined the protest march. A huge contingent of police personnel was present to handle law (From left) Doctors protest at Shyambazar area of Kolkata on Sunday against alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital; supporters of football clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan take part in a protest march near Salt Lake stadium, in Kolkata | PTI and order. Soon, chaos erupted with the police forcing the supporters to retreat. The police resorted to baton charge and made some arrests. Protestors questioned why the match was cancelled when there was such a large number of police force available. They alleged that the police had failed to control rampaging mob at RG Kar. Chaubey who is also a BJP lead, er, said: “Football is beyond politics, religion or any colour. The match should not have been cancelled. If the fans are arrested, it’s a shame for the state’s law and order.” Champai in Delhi amid buzz over BJP switch M U K E S H R A N J A N @ Ranchi JHARKHAND Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren along with four party MLAs landed in Delhi on Sunday triggering speculations that he , is set to join the BJP months before the state Assembly elections. After reaching the national capital, Champai took to X to accuse the JMM leadership of humiliating him and forcing him to look for “an alternative path”. He also removed the name of the party from his X account. After Heman Soren was arrested in January in a corruption case, Champai was asked to take over as the CM. Champai said, that after Hemant Soren was released on bail on June 28, all his official programmes in the first week of July were abruptly cancelled by the party without his knowledge. “Can there be anything more humiliating in a democracy than a Chief Minister’s programs being cancelled by some other person? Despite swallowing this bitter pill of insult, I said that the appointment letters would be distributed in the morning, while the legislative party meeting would be held in the afternoon, so I would attend it from there. But, I was flatly refused from there,” Champai wrote on X. He said after this incident he was ‘broken from within’. When he asked the party leadership, he was told that a meeting of the legislative party had been called on July 3. Till then he could not attend any programme as the chief minister. Champai said at that meeting, he was asked to resign and Hemant Soren was elected as the legislative party leader. Champai wrote that the ‘humiliation’ he suffered left him with no choice, but to look for an alternative path. “I felt as if I had no existence in that party for which I dedicated my entire life... After facing so much insult and contempt, I was forced to look for an alternative path”. He wrote from that day he had three , options — to retire from politics, to form a new party or to join another party He , . said all options are open. Union minister Jual Oram loses wife to dengue E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Rourkela JHINGIA Oram, wife of Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, died of dengue at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar late on Saturday . The 58-year-old was undergoing treatment for dengue and other complications for the last eight days. A grief-stricken Jual said his wife was diagnosed with dengue on August 10 in Bhubaneswar. “Her platelet count dropped considerably and despite transfusion, she could not be saved,” he told mediapersons. Two months back, Jhingia was treated for pneumonia in Bhubaneswar and after her discharge had been battling lungs fibrosis. While at Bhubaneswar, she was afflicted with denuge and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital, Jual’s close aide Bimal Bisi said. Jual after his return from Delhi also tested positive for dengue and was admitted to the same hospital. CM Mohan Charan Majhi paying tributes to Jhingia Oram, wife of Union minister Jual Oram, in Bhubaneswar | EXPRESS On Saturday at around 4 pm, Jhingia , vomited blood and her platelet count dropped to 60,000. She was taken to the ICU but doctors could not save her. Jhingira breathed her last at around 10.50 pm and her body was brought to Sundargarh by Jual and others. The union minister said Jhingia was a pillar of support for him and shouldered all family responsibilities which allowed him to pursue his long political career and discharge public responsibilities effectively Jual who . is yet to fully recover from dengue would leave for Delhi on Monday for health check-up at AIIMS. Jhingia was buried as per tribal rituals at Jual’s native Kendudihi village in Lahunipada block of Sundargarh district on Sunday . Earlier in Bhubaneswar, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and several ministers paid their respects to Jhingia. Condolences also poured in from Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Rourkela MLA Sarada Prasad Nayak, Sundargarh collector Manoj Satyaban Mahajan, DIG acting as incharge Rourkela SP Brijesh Kumar Rai, Bonai sub-collector Niranjan Sahoo and other senior government officers visited Jual’s house to pay their last respects to the departed soul. Earlier, the Durand Cup Organising Committee said: “This office has been informed by the police that they are unable to provide security cover for the 133rd Indian Oil Durand Cup Group A fixture between Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Emami East Bengal scheduled at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday August 18, 2024.” , Some distance away from Salt Lake Stadium, several celebrities, theatre personalities, intellectuals held a protest march from Shyambazar towards RG Kar Medical College & Hospital raising slogans. CBI grills ex-principal Ghosh for third day In Kolkata, Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, appeared before the CBI on the third consecutive day and was asked to furnish details of the phone calls he made before, and after the incident at the hospital, an officer of the central probe agency said. Gosh was questioned by the CBI for around 10 hours on Friday. He was again grilled on Saturday Doctors summoned by Kolkata Police Kolkata Police on Sunday issued summonses to renowned doctors Kunal Sarkar and Subarna Goswami and former BJP MP Locket Chatterjee for allegedly spreading false information. The police also summoned Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, hours after he demanded that the CBI interrogate Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal
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