Chhattisgarh: Asstt Commandant martyred in encounter with Maoists

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has decided to resume cooked food on all trains from February 14. IRCTC in a statement said that with the requirement of travelling passengers and easing of COVID lockdown restrictions across the country, IRCTC is all set to resume the services of cooked food in trains. It said, the restoration of cooked food has been done as per guidelines received from Railway Board. It said, cooked food has already been restored in 428 trains and, of the total number of trains, cooked food had already been restored in 30 percent by December last year and 80 percent in January this year and the remaining 20 per cent will be restored by Monday. IRCTC added that cooked food on premium trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto had already been restored in December last year. The statement said, Ready To Eat meals will also continue. The catering services were suspended as a safety measure against the corona virus pandemic on 23rd March 2020 and with decline in covid positivity rate in the country Ready To Eat meals were started in trains in month of August last year.

-In view of the declining trend in covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, the state government has decided to re-open all schools from Monday onwards. Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Awanish Awasthi said, necessary order in this regard with the instructions in detail will be issued soon. Earlier, schools from classes 9th to 12th and degree colleges in Uttar Pradesh were allowed by the state government to hold offline classes from the February 7.

-Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced that "Hope Express" will be launched in the state to prevent cancer. He was speaking at the launch of a state-of-the-art Mosaic-3D radiation machine at a private hospital in Kolhapur. This is the first such machine in India. The State Health Minister also promised to take initiative to start Hope Express in every district of the state through district planning. He also inaugurated the Oncoprime Cancer Center online at the Hattarki Hospital in Gadhinglaj. The center will benefit patients in rural areas. Health Minister also commented on the controversy related to the state government's decision to allow the sale of wine in supermarkets. He said the decision was taken not to promote alcohol but to benefit grape growers.

-In Chhattisgarh, an assistant commandant of CRPF was killed and one jawan was injured in an encounter with Maoists. According to the Superintendent of police of Bijapur district Kamalochan Kashyap the gun battle between a team of 168th battalion of CRPF and Maoists took place at a forest of Putkel near Timmapur in Basaguda area of Bijapur, in which Assistant Commandant of CRPF S. B. Tirki was martyred. He belongs to Jharkhand state. The CRPF team was on a search operation in the area. More details are awaited.

-The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee President Vincent Pala has said that the AICC is not in favour of the five MLAs of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) joining the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA). The MPCC president said that the MLAs did not consult him when making the decision to support the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) Government. He said that the five MLAs may likely be suspended and a show-cause notice might be served to them. During the meeting, two of the five MLAs Mohendro Rapsang and Mayralborn Syiem were part of the meeting. He added that in the MPCC meeting, a decision was taken to take strong action against the five MLAs, and views and suggestions of the MPCC will be given to AICC.