BRO deploys 67 per cent of its workforce in Northern borders

Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of North China's Hebei Province has become China's new hotspot of Coronavirus surge. Of the 82 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, all of which were locally-transmitted, 77 were reported in Shijiazhuang and the other five in the city of Xingtai. Hebei reported 131 COVID positive cases including 49 asymptomatic cases as announced by provincial health commission. Shijiazhuang has begun the second round of citywide nucleic acid testing. In last week, the city reported 369 confirmed COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic cases, all of whom are treated at designated hospitals. Meanwhile, as per state media reports, medical teams from Tianjin and Hunan are reaching Hebei Province to support COVID-19 control and prevention. The Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University sent a vehicle-carried mobile CT scanner to Hebei. By the end of Sunday, there were 267 confirmed cases admitted in hospitals in Hebei. A total of 208 asymptomatic cases are under medical observation.

-Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the government has given high priority to the development of border areas. He said, Border Roads Organization, BRO has deployed 67 per cent of its workforce in Northern borders. Singh said this while inaugurating a day-long Webinar on Atal Tunnel. BRO organized the webinar to disseminate the experiences gained on this tunnel, for the benefit of IITs, NITs and other technical institutions.Lauding the BRO’s efforts and achievements during 2020, amidst COVID-19 restrictions,  Singh said, there had been no cut in BRO budget. He said that the spirit of national pride is of paramount importance for building such a great structure like Atal Tunnel. Mr Singh also recalled various past achievements of Indian scientists and engineers and said they have always shown their prowess in various streams.

-BJP National President J. P. Nadda has said that it is only the BJP who can safeguard rights and interests of people of Assam. Addressing Vijay Sankalp Samavesh at Silchar Police Parade Ground. Nadda said, BJP has been standing behind people of Assam since it's inception and that's why it was only BJP who raised the issue of Assam agitation inside and outside Parliament through its leader late  Atal Bihari Bajapi. He further mentioned that BJP-led Governments have taken a number of steps towards protection of social, cultural, political and economic interests of the state. Compared to earlier governments, he said, during the UPA regime, only 50 thousand crore rupees were allocated for development of Assam whereas in NDA regime over three lakh crore rupees have been allocated so far.

-Indian Navy will coordinate the second edition of the largest coastal defence exercise Sea Vigil-21 starting Tuesday. The two-day biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise, inaugural edition of which was conducted in January 2019, will be undertaken along the entire 7,516-kilometre long coastline. The exercise will also include Exclusive Economic Zone of the country and will involve all the 13 coastal States and Union Territories along with other maritime stakeholders. It will also include the fishing and coastal communities. The entire coastal security set up was reorganised after the 26/11 Terror attack at Mumbai which was launched via the sea route. The scale and conceptual expanse of the exercise is unprecedented in terms of the geographical extent, the number of stakeholders involved. The exercise is a build up towards the major Theatre-level exercise TROPEX [Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercise] which Indian Navy conducts every two years.

-The Ministry of Finance has released the 11th weekly installment of six thousand crore rupees to the states to meet the GST compensation shortfall. Out of this, an amount of over five thousand 516 crore rupees has been released to 23 States and an amount of 483 crore rupees has been released to the three Union Territories with Legislative Assembly Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry. The remaining five states, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation.The Ministry said, now 60 per cent of the estimated GST compensation shortfall has been released to the States and UT with the Legislative Assembly. Out of this, an amount of over 60 thousand crore rupees has been released to the States and an amount of over five thousand 933 crore rupees has been released to the UTs with the Legislative Assembly.