Mumbai, May 31 (PTI) Around 8.5 crore commuters have travelled by Metro during the past 11 months since beginning of commercial operation on 8 June last year, Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL) said here today.

During the past 11 months since beginning of commercial operation on 8 June, 2014, around 8.5 crore commuters travelled by Metro, which maintained 99 per cent service efficiency in 110,000 trips, an MMOPL, a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, release said.

Meanwhile, MMOPL has tied up with several retailers in a bid to offer a unique shopping experience to its commuters.

The smart card users of Mumbai Metro, would be able to get into a shopping spree on the 11.4 km long metro corridor connecting Versova with Ghatkopar via Andheri from 1 June onwards.

They would be able to enjoy discounts and offers while shopping at several retail outlets along Versova- Andheri-Ghatopar (VAG) corridor just by displaying their smart travel cards at the retail counters, the release said.

New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) Budget carrier GoAir today named Austrian national and former Jet Airways official Wolfgang Prock-Shauer as its new chief executive officer, saying his 34 years of experience in the industry will add immense value to the airline’s business.

The airline also said that its operating revenue has surged by 21 per cent in the previous fiscal on the back of a 13.2 per cent rise in the passengers growth during the period.

Announcing Prock-Shauer’s appointment, GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia said in statement, “We are delighted to have Wolfgang Prock-Schauer on board. With his rich experience of 34 years in the industry, we are confident Wolfgang will add immense value to our business.”

Prock-Shauer would take the place of Giorgio De Roni, who quit GoAir as its chief executive on March 31 due to health reasons after serving the carrier for nearly four years.

His appointment as the new CEO is effective from June 15, the airline said.

This is the second time in last 12 years when Prock- Shauer will be serving an Indian carrier as earlier he worked with another Mumbai-based airline, Jet Airways, as its chief executive, a position which he held till October 15, 2009.

The Wadia Group-owned no-frills airline currently operates over 2,000 weekly flights across 21 domestic destinations with a fleet of 19 Airbus A320 planes.

“We are also pleased to inform that the company has made significant increase in the operating revenue by 21 per cent with EBITDA (earning before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) reporting a substantial improvement of 76 per cent over FY-14,” Wadia said.

He said that the airline also clocked a substantial 13.2 per cent growth in the number of passengers flown in the financial year ended March 31, 2015 over the year-ago period.

Besides, gaining a nearly one per cent market share at 9.3 per cent in FY15 as against 8.5 per cent recorded in the fiscal 2013-14, the seat factor also surged by almost five per cent to 79.2 per cent in FY 15 as compared to 74.3 per cent in FY 14, he said.

Thiruvananthapuram: Monsoon will be delayed by two-three days this year, the weather office said on Saturday.

The Indian Metrological Department (IMD) further said that heat wave conditions in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will prevail till the onset of the monsoon, and added that there had been a drop in temperature in the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh.

“In next 2-3 days monsoon may enter Kerala,” ANI quoted Meteorological Department (IMD) official M Narsimha Rao as saying.

“In the last week of May and in the first week of June, before the onset of monsoon, the severe heat wave conditions will prevail. This is a normal trend, but this year, the heat wave conditions developed after May 20, particularly in Telangana, is continuing till now. The conditions are very severe in Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Karim Nagar, Warangal and Nalgonda districts,” he added.

Earlier, the weather office had predicted the arrival of the Monsoon by May 30.

Strong winds from north westerly direction having a speed of 45-55 kmph were likely to hit the Kerala coast and Lakshadweep during the next 24 hours commencing from 2 pm on Friday, another India Meteorological Department (IMD) official had said earlier.

The official also warned fishermen not to venture into the sea in view of the strong winds.

Scanty rainfall was recorded at most places over Lakshadweep, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka on Friday.

The IMD in its long range prediction, forecast a ‘below normal’ monsoon rainfall pattern over the entire south-west monsoon season this year.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Andhra Pradesh, due to intense heat wave, has reached 1636. The most affected districts in the state were Prakasam and Guntur with 333 and 233 deaths respectively.

Authorities in Andhra Pradesh have cancelled doctors’ leave and advised people not to head outside in the middle of the day to avoid the worst of the heat.

However for many people, staying indoors isn’t much better as the weather conditions have also resulted in frequent power cuts.

New Delhi/Chennai: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has sent a notice to IIT Madras over the controversial ban of a students group whose members are mainly Dalits even as DMK Chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “direct intervention” for revocation of the order.

IIT-M is in the eye of a storm over derecognition of Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle(APSC) on Friday following a complaint that it was critical of Modi. The action had led to protests by political parties including Congress and AAP.

BJP, meanwhile, said the Union Government was not behind the decision as it was taken by the administration of the institute on grounds of misuse of privileges and violation of guidelines.

NCSC Chairman PL Punia told PTI today that a notice has been issued to IIT-M and a reply has been sought.

“I have issued a notice to the institute and sought its reply after taking note of the incident myself. We will take action in this regard,” Punia said, adding, “Youngsters must get freedom of speech on campuses. Imposing bans thus is like suppressing their voices. This is completely wrong.”

He further accused the Centre of being “insensitive” towards the marginalised sections and claimed that the number of anti-Dalit incidents had increased ever since the Modi government came to power.

“Such incidents have increased. These are not minor incidents, but serious ones,” said Punia, who is a Congress Rajya Sabha MP.

While seeking Modi’s intervention for revoking the order immediately to ensure that peace and a healthy atmosphere prevailed at the institute, Karunanidhi castigated Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani for “authoritarian” interference that allegedly led to the derecognition of the students group.

“Because of this incident, the otherwise peacefully functioning institute has turned into a war zone,” he said.

Without naming Irani, he said that “unilateral” and “authoritarian” interference by Modi’s ministers on such issues will impact both the youth of the country and the nation’s peace.

“Though it seems that Prime Minister Modi doesn’t place importance on needless issues like banning a democratic group, his ministers interfering unilaterally and in an authoritarian manner in such issues will impede youth’s thought process and affect the nation’s peace,” Karunanidhi said in a statement released in Chennai.

BJP National Secretary H Raja said the Union Government was not behind the ban on APSC.

“The decision to derecognise and ban the students’ group was taken by the IIT- Madras administration on grounds of misuse of privileges and violation of guidelines,” he told PTI.

New Delhi, May 28 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today called on Dr Abin Suri who survived the devastating earthquake in Nepal and is recuperating at AIIMS here.

According to hospital sources, Chandy visited the hospital at 5.30 PM and interacted with Suri for about 15 minutes.

It may be recalled that a pleasure trip to Nepal by three young doctors from Kerala turned tragic with two of them losing their lives in the killer quake and another managing to survive with serious injuries last month.

While Dr Deepak Thomas from Kannur and Dr A S Irshad from Kasaragod were killed in the earthquake, Dr Suri, who was also part of the group, managed to escape with injuries.

The three doctors, working at National Health Rural Mission programme at Mananthavady in Waynad district, had gone to Kathmandu for an excursion in April.

Srinagar, May 28 (PTI) Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today said it was a ‘worthwhile ambition’ to pursue Make In India campaign but cautioned that the whole effort should not be made towards producing for overseas markets as global slowdown could create problems.

The Reserve Bank chief also underlined the need for creating conducive regulatory atmosphere and infrastructure for promoting manufacturing and services sector.

“It is a worthwhile ambition to make in India, to produce in India. Let us not think too much where do we sell. Let us create the conditions both for manufacturing and service jobs.

We may end up with world class service firms, a few world class manufacturing firms and a few extraordinary domestic firms which are focused on domestic market,” he said.

The RBI governor, who is on a two-day visit to Kashmir, was replying to questions of students from Kashmir University’s Business School at SKICC here.

“The beautiful thing is that you do not have to choose who we produce for. What we need to do is build up the infrastructure, work on simplifying business regulations and build good human capital,” he said.

Rajan, however, added that the Modi government’s flagship scheme should not entirely focus on outside markets.

“By all means we should try our best to produce for the world but if the world is growing slowly, there would not be as much demand as when the world is growing fast,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched Make In India campaign in September last year to make the country a hub of global manufacturing and create jobs for growing population.

New Delhi, May 28 (PTI) Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here, further fuelling speculation on a possible tie-up with BJP when he said he will be with a formation that is opposed to incumbent Nitish Kumar post-Assembly polls.

Parrying queries over any pre-poll alliance, he told reporters that he would partner with a formation which did not include Nitish Kumar, his former mentor and now a bitter critic.

Manjhi has launched his own outfit Hindustani Awam Morcha, after an unceremonious exit from the post of Chief Minister and JD(U).

Asked about RJD leader Lalu Prasad’s overtures to him to join a grand alliance, which is likely to include Kumar, against BJP, he said a tie-up between Prasad and Kumar is unlikely to work as RJD voters would not support Kumar while the JD(U) leader has a small voter base.

“If there is a need to ally with any party following the election, I will go with a formation which does not include Nitish Kumar,” he told reporters.

He claimed he met Modi to raise the issue of farmers’ plight in Bihar and demanded a CBI inquiry into alleged irregularities in paddy procurement.

Manjhi, a Mahadalit, is being eyed by the BJP-led NDA as well as Prasad as their new ally as the Mahadalit community has the potential of tilting the scale in favour of whichever major formation he chooses to align with.

Many believe that his populist policies when he was the Chief Minister, besides his sacking from the hot seat by JD(U), has generated some sympathy for him in his community even though he remains an untested commodity in the politically crucial state.

Prasad had recently proposed that Manjhi be included in the grand alliance against BJP, inviting sharp response from Kumar.

New Delhi, May 28 (PTI) In no mood to back down on the issue of jurisdiction over appointments, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is reaching out to non-BJP chief ministers to mount political pressure on the Modi government even as the matter reached court.

Kejriwal is conveying to chief ministers of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal among others that the Centre’s notification, throwing its weight behind Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, was detrimental to India’s federal structure and it may happen to their states as well.

Sources said Kejriwal is sending separate letters to his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Bihar’s Nitish Kumar.

They said AAP may separately approach leaders of major Opposition parties to persuade them to raise the issue during the monsoon session of the Parliament.

On May 25, Banerjee posted a few tweets putting her weight behind Kejriwal.

“Too much interference in the federal structure is unacceptable. The state govt is an elected body. Central govt is also an elected body,” one of her tweets said.

“Every elected body has its own jurisdiction. One must respect the other,” she said in another tweet.

Sources said Banerjee tweeted as Kejriwal called her up for “advice”.

Speaking at the assembly yesterday, Kejriwal had said that the notification conferring more powers on Lt Governor Najeeb Jung was part of an “experiment” to take the country towards “dictatorship”, asserting that it was ready for a long fight on the issue.

In the notification, the Centre had given absolute powers to the LG in appointment of bureaucrats while also clarifying that he need not “consult” the chief minister on subjects like police and public order.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Delhi government, which is probing a number of high-profile case, has also been barred from registering any case against officers and political functionaries of the central government.

However, the Delhi High Court ruled that the ACB has the authority to probe central government officials, including Delhi Police personnel. The Centre has challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court.

The AAP government also moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre’s notification.

The Delhi Assembly yesterday passed a resolution holding the notification “completely unconstitutional, illegal and invalid”.

Bareilly, May 28 (PTI) A 22-year-old student of MBBS at a local medical college here committed suicide in her hostel room here, police said.

When Priyanka Singh, who had taken admission in the MBBS course in SMRS medical college in 2012 , did not turn up for breakfast and lunch today, her friends went to her hostel room where she was found hanging from the ceiling fan, college PRO said.

The body has been sent for post mortem examination and reasons leading to the extreme step were being ascertained, said SP (rural) Brijesh Srivastava.

New Delhi, May 28 (PTI) Delhi Police are expecting to get former union minister Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar’s viscera report from US-based Federal Bureau of Investigation in the next 15 to 30 days, which is likely to throw light on the kind of poison that caused her death as concluded by AIIMS panel of doctors.

Police Commissioner B S Bassi said the polygraph test on three key witnesses in the case will be conducted in the next seven to ten days.

The investigators hoped both the viscera report and polygraph test will give a direction to the probe into the high-profile case.

Sunanda’s viscera samples were sent to the FBI lab in Washington in February to determine the type of poison that is suspected to have caused her death. An AIIMS medical board had identified poisoning as the reason behind her death but did not mention the type of the poison.

They had listed some kind of poisons most of which were radioactive isotopes that cannot be detected by labs in India.

Highly-placed sources said that the final viscera report is expected in the next 15 to 30 days.

Bassi rubbished media reports that the viscera report has been received.

“Certain media reports that we have received Sunanda’s viscera sample from FBI are baseless. FBI is aware of our need. There is a laid down procedure and guidelines which are followed in such cases before which the findings cannot be reached upon. We are still waiting for the report,” he told reporters.

Asked when the police would conduct the polygraph test on three witnesses, Bassi said that they have asked experts to give them a date and they hope to get it done in a week or ten days.

When questioned whether police will move court for polygraph test on other witnesses including Shashi Tharoor, Bassi said that he would not like to “speculate” on the issue.

Tharoor has been questioned thrice in this case so far.

Sunanda was found dead in a five-star hotel suite here on January 17 last year, a day after she was involved in a spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter over the latter’s alleged affair with Tharoor.

Three suspects in Sunanda Pushkar murder case, two of them employed by Tharoor and the third, a friend, will undergo lie detector test after a Delhi court had on May 20 allowed investigators to conduct it following their consent.

Police have accused the three of concealing “material facts” like a power cut in room no. 345 at Leela Hotel on January 17, 2014 around 7 PM where Sunanda was found dead around 8 PM.