Usmani to go on leave for surgery

Following speculation about his long leave,state Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani officially announced his leave and the reason for it on Friday. Through an official press release,the Chief Secretary’s office said that Usmani will be going on leave from September 29 to October 12 for surgery. It also said that during his visit to the US last month,Usmani had suffered head injury and now a surgery was necessary to “drain out some fluid below the dura-mater”. Dura-mater is the fibre membrane covering the brain and spinal cord. The release also clarified that Usmani would be staying in Lucknow during the period of the leave. Usmani had gone to the US for 14 days from July 23,but later extended it to one month because of his injury. Since there was no official explanation for his prolonged absence,it had led to much speculation.

Two girls killed in firecracker blast

lucknow: Two teenage girls were killed in an explosion in a one-room firecracker store in Para police station area of Lucknow on Friday morning. According to police,the incident took place around 9 am in a shop near Badalkheda village used for storing firecrackers by local resident Javed Mohammed. As Rubina (15),the daughter of Javed,and her friend Shama (14) entered the shop,the crackers exploded,police said. There where five gunny bags of crackers in the room.

Rubina died on the spot while Shama succumbed to injuries at the trauma centre of King George Medical University.