Search

Just another WordPress site

Habitat centre delhi

10 flights to Delhi airport diverted due to bad weather

by economictimes.indiatimes.com Leave a Comment

Synopsis

“Due to bad weather (Rain) in Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status,” SpiceJet said.

At least 10 flights were diverted at the Delhi airport on Monday due to bad weather, according to an official. The flights were diverted to Jaipur and Lucknow .

Among the 10 flights which were diverted, seven were diverted to Jaipur and three to Lucknow.

“Due to bad weather (Rain) in Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status,” SpiceJet said.

IndiGo also issued a travel advisory and asked its passengers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport.

#6ETravelAdvisory Due to bad weather in #Delhi flight departures and arrivals are likely to be impacted. Do check y… https://t.co/nPbuw98viN

— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) 1679321308000

Heavy rain, accompanied by strong winds, lashed parts of Delhi on Monday.

Earlier during the day, pleasant weather conditions prevailed in Delhi with the maximum temperature settling at 27.1 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 17.4 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal, while humidity levels oscillated between 48 per cent and 94 per cent.

For Tuesday, the weather office has forecast generally cloudy skies with the possibility of very light rain or drizzle. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 26 and 16 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of the IMD ‘s regional forecasting centre, told PTI, “An active western disturbance over northwest India is causing rain in the region and hailstorms in some areas.

Another western disturbance will start affecting the region (from) Sunday. Cloudy skies and on-and-off rain will continue over northwest India till March 21, he said.

“The precipitation activity is predicted to peak on March 20. The wet spell will keep the mercury in check. Hailstorm is predicted in parts of northwest India, including Delhi-NCR, on Monday,” Srivastava said.

Don’t miss out on ET Prime stories! Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp. click here!

Print Edition
Print Edition Monday, 20 Mar, 2023

Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way!

  • Front Page
  • Pure Politics
  • ET Markets
  • Smart Investing
  • More

(Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times .)

Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

… more less

Kavitha at ED office for 2nd round of questioning

by www.rediff.com Leave a Comment

Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi for the second round of questioning in the Delhi excise policy linked money laundering case, officials said.

IMAGE: BRS MLC K Kavitha leaves from residence of her father, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, towards the ED office in New Delhi.

Dressed in a green saree, Kavitha entered the ED headquarters in central Delhi around 10:30 AM.

The 44-year-old MLC daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was first questioned in the case on March 11 following which she was summoned again on March 16.

Kavitha, however, skipped the deposition last week citing her pending plea before the Supreme Court for relief against the ED action in the case.

The federal probe agency rejected her claims and asked her to depose on March 20. The apex court has decided to hear her petition on March 24.

During the nine hours she spent at the ED office on March 11, Kavitha is understood to have been confronted with the statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, an arrested accused in the case who allegedly shares close ties with her, apart from those of few others involved in the case.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader’s statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Pillai will also be produced before the court on Monday as his ED custody expires.

Kavitha could be physically confronted with Pillai and her former auditor Butchibabu Gorantla during Monday’s session.

The BRS politician has asserted that she had done nothing wrong and alleged that the BJP-led Centre was “using” the ED as the saffron party could not gain a “backdoor entry” in Telangana.

Pillai, the ED had said, “represented the South Group”, an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others that paid kickbacks amounting to about Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party to gain a larger share of the market in the national capital under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2020-21.

The “South Group”, according to the ED, comprises Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole Lok Sabha seat in Andhra Pradesh), his son Raghav Magunta, Kavitha and others.

The ED also alleged in Pillai’s remand papers that he “represented the benami investments” of Kavitha in the case.

Kavitha has earlier been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the case at her residence in Hyderabad.

The ED has so far arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia.

It has also recorded the statement of Butchibabu, an accountant allegedly linked to Kavitha, where he said “there was political understanding between K Kavitha and chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) and the deputy chief minister (Sisodia). In that process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair on March 19-20, 2021”.

Nair was arrested in the case by both the ED and the CBI. Butchibabu has been arrested by the CBI and has been questioned recently again by the ED.

According to Butchibabu’s statement, Nair was “trying to impress Kavitha with what he could do in the (excise) policy”.

“Vijay Nair was acting on behalf of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia,” the statement recorded by the ED read.

It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.

The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.

Hunt for Amritpal: An acronym has spooked security agencies

by economictimes.indiatimes.com Leave a Comment

Synopsis

Security agencies found AKF written on the gate of Amritpal’s house in Jallupur Khera village in Amritsar. They also found guns and bullet-proof jackets at other places bearing the same acronym.

The hunt for Amritpal Singh , a Khalistani separatist leader and the head of Waris Punjab De, has entered the third day on Monday. The elusive preacher gave police the slip when his cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district after the police launched a crackdown on his group on Saturday.

During the ongoing crackdown, the police has arrested more than hundred persons including several close associates of Amritpal while his driver and his uncle who were accompanying him have surrendered.

Just as security agencies search for Amritpal, they are alarmed by a new discovery they made during their crackdown on Amritpal and his associates. It’s an acronym, AKF, that has spooked security agencies. They found AKF written on the gate of Amritpal’s house in Jallupur Khera village in Amritsar. They also found guns and bullet-proof jackets at other places bearing the same acronym.

AKF stands for Anandpur Khalistan Force , and security agencies believe it could be a new terror group Amritpal was trying to build.

On several occasions, Amritpal has said that his organisation Waris Punjab De aimed to follow a non-violent path for creation of a separate state of Khalistan. The discovery of bullet-proof jackets and guns bearing the acronym AKF indicates the possibility of Amritpal trying to raise a terror group separate from Waris Punjab De, an organisation started by another separatist leader Deep Sidhu who was part of the agitation against farm laws. Amritpal, who was an associate of Deep Sidhu, was anointed the head of Waris Punjab De after Sidhu’s death.

Another discovery by the security agencies points at Amritpal trying to create an armed group to start a violent movement in Punjab. Security agencies had raised a red flag after intelligence inputs suggested Amritpal was using drug de-addiction centres and a gurdwara in Punjab for stockpiling weapons and preparing youths to carry out suicide attacks.

The youths who were admitted in the de-addiction centres used to be indoctrinated and pushed towards the gun culture. They were being brainwashed to choose the path of slain terrorist Dilawar Singh, who acted as a human bomb and killed former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, the officials told PTI. Amritpal has claimed that he is waging a war against drug addiction in Punjab. Amritpal’s father said after the police started pursuing Amritpal that his son was not doing anything wrong but fighting the menace of drug addiction in the state.

Several terror organisations with names similar to Anandpur Khalsa Force, such as Khalistan Zindabad Force, Khalistan Commando Force and Babbar Khalsa International, had sprung up in Punjab in the eighties.

The possibility of Amritpal starting a violent movement in Punjab is a serious challenge for security agencies. The PTI has reported citing sources in security agencies that Amritpal is believed to be a close associate of UK-based Khalistani terrorist Avtar Singh Khanda who is believed to be behind Amritpal Singh’s meteoric rise. Khanda is a trusted lieutenant of the leader of the banned Babbar Khalsa International Paramjit Singh Pamma, who radicalises and trains Sikh youths. Khanda gives online demonstrations from Birmingham and Glasgow on how to make improvised explosive devices by using commonly available chemicals.

Amritpal Singh also has links Lakhbir Singh Rode, the chief of International Sikh Youth Federation, who is wanted in India in cases of smuggling of arms and explosives, including RDX, conspiracy to attack government leaders in New Delhi and spreading hatred in Punjab.

Given Amritpal’s large following among the youth in Punjab and his skill in galvanising them, a new terror group like AKF can pose a major threat to peace in the state.

(With inputs from PTI)

Don’t miss out on ET Prime stories! Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp. click here!

Print Edition
Print Edition Monday, 20 Mar, 2023

Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way!

  • Front Page
  • Pure Politics
  • ET Markets
  • Smart Investing
  • More

(Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times .)

Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

… more less

Air India confident on funding for world’s biggest aircraft deal

by economictimes.indiatimes.com Leave a Comment

Synopsis

Air India has placed an order of 470 aircraft from both Boeing Co. and Airbus SE, with deliveries due to start from the end of this year. Discounts are common for such large purchases. The airline is spending $400 million to upgrade its widebody planes, replacing all seats and in-flight entertainment systems with new products.

Air India Ltd. is in talks with banks to help fund its recently announced record aircraft order, benefitting from the support of new owner Tata Sons Ltd., the carrier’s chief executive officer said.

“We have the backing of Tata Sons, so there is financing available for these aircraft,” CEO Campbell Wilson said in an interview with Bloomberg News on the sidelines of the CAPA India Aviation Summit in New Delhi on Monday. “We have already made some downpayments for these aircraft from our internal funds.”

Air India has placed an order of 470 aircraft from both Boeing Co. and Airbus SE, with deliveries due to start from the end of this year. Discounts are common for such large purchases.

The formerly state-run carrier will use cash, shareholder equity, and sale and leaseback of aircraft to help fund the order, Wilson said last month. With the fleet expansion, Air India is seeking to take on the likes of Emirates and Qatar Airways, which dominate lucrative routes from India to the US and Europe through their hubs in Doha and Dubai.

Wilson didn’t say which banks Air India is talking to.

India has been quicker than most other nations to get back to pre-Covid levels of air traffic, aided by a strong local market and growing middle class. Domestic air traffic is expected to rise 20% to 160 million passengers in the year through March 2024, and the nation’s carriers may operate a fleet of 1,400 jets by 2030, according to Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation.

India plans to spend about 980 billion rupees ($12 billion) over the next two years on airports, including new terminals and the renovation of existing facilities to meet surging demand. A lot of that growth may come from smaller cities where air travel penetration is low.

“India over the last few decades has been punching below its weight,” said Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. “The government is doing what is natural, to build up potential as an aviation hub.”

Air India is preparing to integrate Vistara, a joint venture between Singapore Airlines Ltd . and Tata Group, to form a single, full-service carrier. The airline is spending $400 million to upgrade its widebody planes, replacing all seats and in-flight entertainment systems with new products.

India’s largest conglomerate Tata bought Air India for $2.4 billion from the government in 2021. The high-profile privatization under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended decades of attempts to sell the money-losing, debt-laden carrier, which had been kept alive on years of taxpayer bailouts.

Don’t miss out on ET Prime stories! Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp. click here!

Print Edition
Print Edition Monday, 20 Mar, 2023

Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way!

  • Front Page
  • Pure Politics
  • ET Markets
  • Smart Investing
  • More

(Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times .)

Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

… more less