Page 12 - The Indian EYE 021921

EYE on INDIA February 19, 2021 | The Indian Eye 12

srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir)

Temple reopens after 31 years

on Basant Panchami

temple in Srinagar, which closed its doors for devotees 31
years ago due to militancy and outmigration of Hindus,
A was reopened on the auspicious occasion of Basant Pan-
chami. Shital Nath Temple located in the Habba Kadal area of Sri-
nagar reopened on Tuesday. A special ‘pooja’ was also performed
by devotees at the temple. Santosh Razadan, a devotee who came
to offer prayers at the temple, said that they received huge support
from locals especially those from the Muslim community for the
reopening of the temple.
“Shital Nath temple reopened after 31 years. People used to
come here before to offer prayers but it was closed due to militan-
cy. Hindus residing near the temple had also left. Locals mostly
belonging to the Muslim community helped us,” she told ANI.
Ravinder Razdan, one of the organizers of the pooja conduct-
ed at Shital Nath temple, said people from the Muslim communi-
ty provided much-needed support to us in this initiative and they
even came forward to clean the temple. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy receives the
“Our Mulsim brother and sisters brought pooja items. We used Skoch Chief Minister of the year award from Skoch group Chairman
to do this pooja every year. Baba Sheetal Nath Bhairao’s birth an- Sameer Kochhar, at Tadepalli in Guntur district on Tuesday. (ANI)
niversary falls on Basant Pachmit that is why we celebrate this day
with fervor,” Razdan said. several agitations against her. We also organized signature cam-
Terrorist violence cases and stone-pelting incidents have paigns for her removal,” Narayanasamy said.
dropped in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Ar- The Chief Minister accused Bedi of blocking the welfare
ticle 370 in August 2019 that gave special status to the erstwhile schemes in the Union Territory.
state. Jammu and Kashmir were also bifurcated into two union ter- “Due to pressure from us, the Government of India has re-
ritories- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. moved Bedi. This is a great victory for the people of Puducherry.
On February 8, Union Minister of State Home Affairs G Kis- She blocked the welfare schemes. However, the rights of the
han Reddy had informed Rajya Sabha that the number of terrorist Puducherry people have been saved today. Now, Puducherry will
violence cases and stone-pelting incidents in Jammu and Kashmir teach a lesson to BJP,” he added.
have reduced drastically in 2020 in comparison to 2019. Meanwhile, Congress workers celebrated the removal of Bedi
“A total of 157 terrorists were neutralised in 2019 and 221 were as Puducherry LG by bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets.
eliminated in 2020. There were 594 cases of terrorist violence in Bedi has been removed as the Lieutenant Governor of
2019, which reduced to 244 in 2020. There were 327 stone pelting Puducherry, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement on Tuesday.
incidents in 2020 as compared to 2,009 such incidents in 2019,” he
had said. mumbai (maharashtra)

puducherry Wear masks to avoid another

CM happy as Kiran Bedi lockdown: Mayor

removed as LG umbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Tuesday said that it is

in the hands of people to avert another COVID-induced
iran Bedi has been removed as the Lieutenant Governor Mlockdown by wearing masks and maintaining social dis-
of Puducherry, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement tancing.
Kon Tuesday. “Rising number of cases is a matter of concern. 60 out of 100
Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Tuesday hailed the ouster people travelling by trains don’t wear masks. People must take pre-
of Puducherry Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Kiran Bedi and termed cautions else we would head towards another lockdown,” she told
it as the “victory” of the people of the Union Territory. reporters. “Our Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister are also
Speaking to ANI, Narayanasamy said Bedi was removed due worried about the situation. Whether lockdown will be implement-
to pressure from the Congress, which was vehemently protesting ed again is in the hands of people,” she added.
against her for “hampering” the growth of Puducherry. “We have When asked if she will take the COVID-19 vaccine in the sec-
been battling against Kiran Bedi for the last two years. We want- ond phase, she said, “Yes, I am going to take the vaccine because
ed her to be removed for unconstitutional behavior, interfering in this will protect me from the infection.”
the day-to-day activities of the administration, ignoring the elected Meanwhile, 3,663 new COVID-19 cases and 2,700 recoveries
government and not following rules and procedures. We launched were reported in the state today. A total of 19,81,408 patients are

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