Business
Vedanta commissions largest lithium-ion battery powered fleet of 27 forklifts

India’s largest producer of aluminium Vedanta Aluminium has commissioned India’s largest electric fleet of 27 forklifts, powered by lithium-ion batteries.
Done in partnership with Gemini Equipment and Rentals India, this feat sets the ball rolling on Vedanta Aluminium’s plans to decarbonise its industrial vehicle fleet.
These electric forklifts make use of the cutting-edge system to help ensure the highest levels of safety at site, besides using Internet of Things technology to integrate the data collected by intelligent terminals and provide feed on a real-time basis.
All 27 forklifts arrived last month and are being operationalised at the company’s aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda.
Some other advantages of this green fleet include a reduction in diesel consumption by more than 2.5 lakh litre annually, greenhouse gas emission savings of nearly 690 tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Further, as testimony to its endeavours towards increasing gender diversity in core manufacturing operations, the company is recruiting and training women to operate these top-of-the-line forklifts.
The company has previously hired transgender employees as forklift operators in its aluminium operations at BALCO in Chhattisgarh.
“In line with our commitment of achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050, our partnership with GEAR to deploy one of India’s largest and most technologically advanced electric forklift fleets, is a strong step in our journey of decarbonising our industrial vehicle fleet. We are also leveraging this avenue to increase women’s participation in core operations by training women drivers to operate these smart forklifts,” said Rahul Sharma, CEO, Aluminium Business at Vedanta.
Varun Chopra, Executive Chairman of GEAR India, said: “Vedanta Aluminium’s pioneering endeavour to commission India’s largest fleet of technologically advanced forklifts undoubtedly serves as an inspiration for the Indian manufacturing industry to explore emerging technology solutions for achieving their sustainable development and Net Zero goals.”
Vedanta Aluminium manufactures more than half of India’s total aluminium output
Business
No toll proposed for 2-wheelers, says Nitin Gadkari amid viral reports

New Delhi, June 26: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, on Thursday dismissed media reports suggesting that two-wheelers will be required to pay tolls on National Highways from July 15.
He called the reports misleading and clarified that no such proposal is under consideration.
Taking to social media platform X, the Union Minister said: “Some media houses are spreading misleading news about toll tax being levied on two-wheelers. No such decision has been proposed.”
“Two-wheelers will continue to be exempt from tolls. Spreading such baseless news without verifying the facts is not responsible journalism. I strongly condemn it,” the Union Minister stated.
The clarification comes after a report claimed that toll payment would soon be made mandatory for two-wheelers at all national highway toll plazas, and that riders would need to equip their vehicles with FASTag.
The report also claimed that violators could face penalties of up to Rs 2,000. This comes just days after Gadkari announced a new annual FASTag pass worth Rs 3,000 for private four-wheelers, aimed at simplifying toll payments and reducing congestion.
Set to launch on August 15, the pass will be valid for one year or 200 trips — whichever comes first — and can be activated via the Rajmarg Yatra app or official websites of the NHAI and the MoRTH.
The government has significantly expanded its highway infrastructure in the last decade, with the total length of national highways increasing from 91,287 km in 2014 to 1,46,204 km in 2024 — a rise of over 60 per cent.
The pace of highway construction has also tripled from 11.6 km/day in 2014 to 34 km/day in 2024.
As of now, 1,366 highway projects covering 32,366 km are under construction across the country, many of which are expected to be completed in phases by FY 2028.
With a 570 per cent increase in the road transport and highways budget over the last decade, the Centre continues to prioritise infrastructure development — but for now, two-wheeler riders can rest assured that tolls are not on the horizon.
National
SC agrees to hear plea against Maratha quota law in July

New Delhi, June 26: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear, in July, a plea challenging the decision of the Bombay High Court, which had directed that the interim order passed last year, allowing the Maratha community to avail 10 per cent reservation in educational institutions and public employment, will continue to remain in force.
After a lawyer mentioned the matter for urgent listing, a Bench of Justices K.V. Viswanathan and N.K. Singh assured of listing the plea on the re-opening of the top court (i.e. after July 14).
In an order passed on June 11 this year, the Bombay High Court allowed the Maratha community to provisionally avail the benefit of 10 per cent reservation, subject to the final outcome of the petitions challenging the validity of the contentious Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backwards Classes (SEBC) Act, 2024.
The SEBC Act, allowing 10 per cent quota for the Maratha community, was passed by the previous Eknath Shinde-led government in February last year after the Justice (retd) Sunil Shukre-led Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) opined that “exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations exist” to grant benefit of quota to Maratha community beyond the 50 per cent threshold.
Notably, the Supreme Court had struck down a similar quota law enacted by the Maharashtra legislature in 2018 for having breached the 50 per cent cap fixed in the 1992 landmark Indra Sawhney case (Mandal Commission case).
A five-judge Constitution Bench, in its judgment passed in May 2021, had opined that it could not find any exceptional circumstances or extraordinary situation for allowing a 12-13 per cent quota for the Maratha community and struck down the Maharashtra Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018.
Further, the Supreme Court had declared that states do not have the power to prepare lists for socially and educationally backward classes and ruled that the President had the sole power to identify a community as backward.
It had also declined to entertain the review plea moved by the Maharashtra government seeking a relook at the judgment. Before this, the apex court had dismissed a plea by the Union government seeking reconsideration of the May 5, 2021, judgment.
Crime
Bengal BJP worker’s murder: Absconding man arrested by CBI after 4 years

Kolkata, June 26: After four years, a prime absconding accused in the killing of a BJP worker, Abhijit Sarkar, in the 2021 post-poll violence was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday.
The arrested person was identified as Arun Dey, for whom the CBI had earlier announced a reward of Rs 50,000. He was one of the five main accused persons in the murder of Sarkar, a resident of the Kankurgachi area in North Kolkata, during the violence that broke out after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election.
Sources said Dey was finally arrested on Thursday from a secret hideout in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. However, further details on the matter are still awaited.
Four other prime accused persons in the case, namely Sukhdeo Podder a.k.a. Sukha, Gopal Das a.k.a. Vishal, Amit and Biswajit Das a.k.a. Bomba, are still absconding.
All five of them were identified as Trinamool Congress strongmen in the area and were also known as close confidants of the ruling party legislator from Belegahta Assembly constituency in North Kolkata, Paresh Paul and Trinamool Congress councillor in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Swapan Samaddar.
Paul has already been questioned by the CBI sleuths in this connection. However, his name was not in the charge sheet filed by the CBI in the matter, which angered the family members of the slain BJP worker.
To recall, Abhijit Sarkar was killed on May 2, 2021, soon after the results of the 2021 Assembly elections were declared, where Trinamool Congress bagged a landslide victory.
The CBI took over the investigation from the Kolkata Police following an order of the Calcutta High Court. In September 2021, a trial court in Kolkata declared the five accused absconders.
Thereafter, CBI declared a reward of Rs 50,000 on each of them. Finally, after over four years, one of the five accused and absconding persons has been arrested by the CBI sleuths. He might be presented at a special court in Kolkata later in the day, and the CBI counsel is expected to seek his custody for further interrogation, sources said.
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