Maulshree Seth

A team of eight doctors attended to around 1,100 patients in the last two days. “Five faculties - medicine, ophthalmology, ENT, orthopaedics and dental - have begun functioning at the centre,” said Ashok Kumar, medical superintendent.

"The reason for the shortage is that earlier governments were not interested in filling up vacancies. They were only interested in making costly purchases and even if they were done, it was not transparent and thus landed into legal battle," said Rita Bahuguna Joshi, minister for women and child welfare

President Ram Nath Kovind, who was in Lucknow at the launch of the “One District, One Product (ODOP)” summit, underlined the importance of Uttar Pradesh in the country’s politics.

Both district administrations have written to the government requesting a detailed inquiry into the functioning of these shelter homes. They specifically requested the government to look into the funds sanctioned to them and recover the same if the charges are found to be true.

“We wanted what was good for her... We didn’t expect this... As soon as we read about the matter in the newspaper today, we rushed here at once,” said the uncle of a girl found in Deoria shelter home case.

Police detained five staff members from the old age home including Kanaklata Tripathi, the elder daughter of Girija Tripathi, who was arrested Monday along with her husband after 24 girls were rescued from a Deoria shelter following allegations of abuse.

The licence for the Deoria shelter — it was being run by Girija Tripathi who was arrested along with her husband after 24 girls were rescued during a raid Sunday — was suspended by the state government in June 2017.

Deoria Superintendent of Police Rohan P Kanay told reporters: “Twenty-four girls were rescued yesterday from the shelter... which has 42 inmates. Eighteen inmates are still missing. We have sealed it.”

As part of government’s move to give impetus to local products under its “one district, one product” scheme, it will, on the same day, sign a memorandum of understanding with e-commerce website Amazon.

In the first phase, products from 300 artisans and local salesmen from nine districts would be available on Amazon.

On Prime Minister’s plea that industrialists ought not to be called thieves, Raj Babbar said, “but Prime Minister gets clicked with “lutere Nirav Modi”, referring to the diamantaire accused of fraud in the PNB scam case.

Narendra Modi said on Sunday that he was not afraid of being seen next to “udyogpati” as they played as crucial a role in nation development as a labourer, a farmer or an artisan.

The Prime Minister was in Lucknow to mark the three-year anniversary of his government’s flagship urban development schemes — AMRUT, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and Smart Cities mission.

Singh, who had earlier this month courted controversy by saying that rape cannot be curbed even if Lord Ram descends on earth, on Thursday said that Hindus will become a minority if there is “no balance” in population control.

After the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly bypolls earlier this year, Singh had blamed ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government for the party’s humiliating defeat in both places.

The city is preparing for a grand Kumbh-2019 and Shah’s visit will come just three days after the state government cleared the proposal to build infrastructure on the land available with the four Akharas in Allahabad with an investment of about Rs 5 crore.

The Prime Minister, who is supposed to arrive in Lucknow on July 28, will inaugurate 57 projects under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation scheme, 26 projects under Smart City scheme and 11 projects under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna.

Modi specifically referred to the coming together of the Samajwadi Party and BSP in UP, saying the unity of the “cycle” and “haathi (elephant)” was “sabse bada dhokha (biggest betrayal)” of the people.

When Hasmitul, Mumtaj, Shamim and Nur board the flight to Saudi Arabia, they would be among India’s first women to do Haj without a ‘male guardian’. But that won’t be the only milestone in their individual journeys there.