Jaipur, Feb 24: Congress on Monday staged a protest at Vidhan Sabha against the state minister Avinash Gehlot, who ‘insulted’ the opposition MLAs by referring the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as ‘Dadi’.

However, strict security measures were put in place, preventing the Congress workers from moving beyond Sahakar Bhawan.

Authorities also barricaded the road leading inward from Bharat Petrol Pump at 22 Godown Circle and installed two layers of barricades.

On February 21, during the Question Hour, Congress members disrupted proceedings by storming the well of the House in protest against Minister Avinash Gehlot’s remarks on former PM Indira Gandhi who referred her to as ‘Dadi’.

While responding to a question, Gehlot stated that in 2023-24, a particular scheme was named after “your Dadi, Indira Gandhi,” leading to protests by the Congress legislators.

As tensions escalated, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel defended the minister’s choice of words, stating that “Dadi” (grandmother) is a respectful term. However, his explanation further fueled the uproar, prompting Congress MLAs to approach the Speaker’s table. In response, the Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes.

The deadlock persisted throughout the day, leading to a total of four adjournments. Chief Whip Jogeshwar Garg moved a proposal to suspend several Congress MLAs, which Speaker Vasudev Devnani approved.

As a result, six legislators – Govind Singh Dotasra, Deputy Leader of Opposition Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Zakir Hussain Gasavat, Hakam Ali Khan, and Sanjay Kumar – were suspended for the remainder of the budget session.

Meanwhile, Congress MLAs have continued their protest inside the Assembly for the fourth consecutive day, having spent three nights in the House.

The controversy, initially sparked by Minister Avinash Gehlot’s remarks, has deepened following the suspension of key Congress leaders, including state president Govind Singh Dotasra.

So far, attempts by the government to resolve the standoff have been unsuccessful.

Jammu, Feb 24: Security forces started searches at multiple locations near the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K’s Poonch district on Monday after tip-offs about suspicious activity, officials said.

Officials said that acting on intelligence inputs about suspicious movement, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the J&K Police and troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jointly cordoned off Phamarnar, Kiker Morh, Jabdan Gali, and Harni in the Gursai and Brella and Kasbalari areas of Mendhar and the Bafliaz forest in Surankote for searches.

“No contact has been so far established with the terrorists yet while the searches are still going on,” an official said.

Due to scant snowfall this winter, all the traditional infiltration routes are open along the LoC in J&K.

For this reason, the army on the LoC and police and other security forces in the hinterland are maintaining high vigil to thwart any terrorist attempt to sneak into this side of the LoC.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who recently chaired two high-level security review meetings on J&K, has reportedly given clear orders to the security forces to ensure zero infiltration and zero tolerance to terrorists.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha also chaired two security meetings, one in Srinagar and the other in Jammu, and gave orders for the complete dismantling of the terror ecosystem by targeting terrorists, their over-ground workers (OGWs) and sympathisers.

He said that drug smuggling, drug peddling, and hawala rackets are used to generate funds which are finally used to sustain terrorism in J&K.

Intelligence agencies believe that the handlers of terrorism sitting across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied areas got frustrated because of peaceful and people participative Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in J&K last year. These handlers of terrorism are reported to have given directions to the terrorists in J&K to give push to dying terrorism in the UT.

Kolkata, Feb 24: West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, while addressing a medical convention on Monday, announced a major salary hike for government doctors in the state.

At the same time, the CM also announced the lifting of suspension on the doctors of Midnapore Medical College & Hospital in West Midnapore district who were suspended by the state government a couple of months ago on grounds of alleged negligence towards duty following the death of a woman.

However, even during the announcement of lifting of the suspension, the Chief Minister reiterated that there had been an instance of medical negligence in the matter.

The state government’s decision to suspend the doctors had attracted large scale criticism since lots of circumstantial developments hinted that the death was due to administering expired Ringer’s Lactate.

With regards to the salary hike for doctors at all levels, the Chief Minister, announced that the monthly salary for senior state government doctors would be increased by Rs 15,000 per month.

For junior doctors including post-graduate trainees and post-doctorate trainees, house-staff and interns, the monthly salary hike would be to the tune of Rs 10,000 per month.

The Chief Minister made these announcements while addressing a doctors’ convention titled ‘Medical Services is Human Service’.

At the convention, the Chief Minister also announced that the doctors attached to different state-run hospitals or state-run medical colleges & hospitals would be able to do private practice after attending daily duty for eight hours at the state government health outfits.

However, West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), an umbrella body of different junior doctors’ associations in the state which spearheaded the movement on the R.G. Kar rape and murder tragedy, did not send any representative to the convention.

According to WBJDF representatives the convention on Monday was nothing but an eyewash since lots of promises made by the state government on the state’s health care system in the wake of the R.G. Kar protests were to be fulfilled even after six months.