Mumbai: A unique sight was seen on the streets of Mumbai on Sunday morning when hundreds of people rode bicycles and united against drug abuse. Organised by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai and Greater Mumbai Police, the cyclothon gave the message of spreading awareness against drugs.

The “Drugs Free India” campaign started from Bandra Reclamation Bus Station and ended at Juhu Beach.

Big personalities gathered to flag off the cyclothon at 7 am. Naval Bajaj (ADG, ATS), Sharda Nikam (IG, ANTF), Amit Ghavate (Additional Director, NCB Mumbai), Navnath Dhawale (DCP, ANC) and Dr. Deepshikha Birla (Senior Superintendent of India Post) flagged off in the presence of Mumbai North Division and personnel from Narcotics Control Bureau, Mumbai Unit and Anti Narcotics Cell, Mumbai Police.

People of all ages participated in this cyclothon organized by Loha Foundation. From youth to the elderly, everyone raised their voice against drug abuse by riding bicycles. The route was specially chosen keeping in mind traffic and safety, so that the participants do not face any inconvenience.

The walk from Bandra to Juhu was not only good for health but also gave a social message.

The event concluded at Juhu Beach, where common citizens and officials shared their views. Participants said that such events remind us that drug addiction not only ruins the life of one person, but also the entire society. We all have to come together to stop it.

This effort of NCB highlighted the dangers of drug abuse and promoted a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. Officials said that this cyclothon is just a beginning; there will be more such events in the future, which will help in freeing the society from the clutches of drugs.

Mumbai, June 23: The Indian benchmark indices opened in the red on Monday amid weak global cues due to rising Middle East tensions, as selling was seen in the IT and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.30 am, Sensex was trading 677.10 points or 0.82 per cent down at 81,731.07 while the Nifty declined 204.6 point or 0.81 per cent at 24,907.75

Nifty Bank was down 387.75 points or 0.69 per cent at 55,865.10 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 57,776.05 after dropping 219.45 points or 0.38 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,148.95 after declining 45.25 points or 0.25 per cent.

According to analysts, even though the US bombing of Iran’s three nuclear facilities has worsened the crisis, the impact on the market is likely to be limited. The uncertain factor now is the timing and nature of the Iranian response.

“If Iran targets and damages the US defence facilities in the region or hurts US military personnel seriously, the US response can be huge and this might further worsen the crisis. But the market assessment is that there are limits to what Iran can do against US and Israel,” said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd.

The fact is that the closure of Hormuz Strait will harm Iran and Iran’s friend China more than anyone else. The market construct continues to favour a ‘buy on dips’ strategy, he added.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Infosys, HCL Tech, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Eternal, TCS, Asian Paints, Power Grid, Reliance, ITC were the top losers. Whereas, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharti Airtel and Trent were in the list of top gainers.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their buying on the fourth consecutive day on June 20 as they bought equities worth Rs 7,940.70 crore. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold equities of Rs 3,049.88 crore on the same day.

“We expect our markets to respond unfavourably and open lower before attempting to recover from these initial losses. Immediate resistance is now placed at 25,222 levels. Support has shifted upwards to 24,800 levels,” said Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities.

In the Asian markets, Bangkok, Japan, Seoul, Hong Kong and Jakarta were trading in red, while only China was trading in green.

In the last trading session on Friday, Dow Jones in the US closed at 42,206.82, up 35.16 points, or 0.08 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 13.03 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 5,967.84 and the Nasdaq closed at 19,447.41, down 98.86 points, or 0.51 per cent.

New Delhi, June 23: The counting of votes is underway for the by-elections to five Assembly seats in four states — Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala and Bengal.

The bypolls were held on June 19 for two Assembly seats in Gujarat — Visavadar and Kadi; and one each in Punjab (Ludhiana West), Bengal (Kaliganj), and Kerala (Nilambur).

In Gujarat, the Visavadar seat recorded 56.89 per cent voter turnout; in Kadi, the turnout was 57.90 per cent.

Kerala’s Nilambur registered a 75.27 per cent voter turnout in the bypoll.

West Bengal recorded 69.85 per cent voting percentage in the Kaliganj seat, and in Punjab’s Ludhiana West constituency, 51.33 per cent voters turned up.

The deaths of the incumbent legislators necessitated the bypolls in one seat each in Gujarat, West Bengal and Punjab, and the resignation of two MLAs led to the polling in Kerala and another seat in Gujarat.

In Gujarat’s Kadi, the BJP has fielded Rajendra Chavda, Congress has Ramesh Chavda, a former MLA from the same seat, and AAP has fielded Jagdish Chavda.

In Visavadar, the BJP nominated former Junagadh district president Kirit Patel against AAP’s Gopal Italia and Congress’ Nitin Ranpariya.

The key contenders in West Bengal’s Kaliganj are Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Sheikh, backed by the Left Front, Trinamool Congress’ Alifa Ahmed, and BJP’s Ashish Ghosh.

In Kerala, the ruling LDF nominated M. Swaraj for Nilambur bypolls, whereas Aryadan Shoukath (Congress-led UDF), Trinamool Congress’ P.V. Anvar, and Mohan George of the BJP-led NDA are the other candidates in the fray. In total, ten candidates are in the fray. The contest is seen as a litmus test for the ruling LDF government and its prospects in next year’s Assembly elections.

Ludhiana West bypoll has a four-cornered battle among Sanjeev Arora from the AAP, Bharat Bhushan Ashu from Congress, Jiwan Gupta from the BJP and Parupkar Singh Ghumman from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Arora is AAP’s Rajya Sabha candidate, and it is being speculated that Arvind Kejriwal may be nominated for the upper House in case Arora wins. Though the AAP leaders have so far denied this move. The counting of votes for the Ludhiana West Assembly is being held at Khalsa College For Women.