Five more Amarnath pilgrims die; toll rises to 83

Officials reported on Monday that five more pilgrims died en route to the cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas, estimating the toll during this year's pilgrimage to 83.

They said that Badri Prasad, aged 25 years, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, was killed when he was hit by a falling stone from a hillock at Railpathri along Baltal-cave route.

Officials said that Nand Kishore Lal, aged 66 years, a resident of  Uttar Pradesh, died of cardiac arrest at Baltal base camp, meanwhile a body of a sadhu identified as Ram Saroud was found dead near the holy shrine.

Officials added that, in another incident, Navratna Devi of Bihar suffered a massive heart attack while crossing the sangam along the cave route and died while being shifted to a nearby make shift hospital.

Shiv Karam, aged 73 years, a resident of Madhya Pradesh died at Baltal base camp hospital, where he was soon admitted after he had suffered a heart attack.

The annual Amarnath yathra commenced on June 25^th from the twin tracks from Baltal and Pahalgam and scheduled to end on August 2^nd , coinciding with the Raksha Bandhan festival.

News reported by AR for Newsvision online news blog

Madhumita murder case: High Court uphelds life sentence to ex-MLA Amarmani

The Uttarkhand High Court today upheld the life imprisonment awarded to the ex-MLA, Amarmani Tripathi, his wife and two others in the Madhumita Shukla murder case.

A division bench of the High Court comprising of Justice Barin Ghosh and U C Dhayani also awarded life imprisonment to Prakash Pandey, who was let-off by the Dehradun CBI court due to lack of evidence.

Virendra Singh Adhikari, counsel for Nidhi Shukla, sister of the slain poetess said that the court while rejecting the petition of the four convicts, said that no relief can be granted to the MLA or any oher convicts since their role in the Shukla murder case has been proved by the CBI.

The court also directed the trial court to take Pandey into custody immediately.

Amarmani Tripathi, his wife Madhumani and two others namely Rohit Chaturvedi and Santhosh Kumar Rai were convicted and sentenced tolife imprisonment by the Dehradun Court in 2007 on the charges of conspiracy and killing Shukla in Lucknow in the year 2003.

The investigations revealed that the poetess was pregnant when she was murdered  and both Pandey and Rai had been to her house and shot her dead.

News reported by AR for Newsvision online news blog

Over 38 newborns died in Jaisalmer

Signifying a rise in the rate of female infanticide in the state of Jaisalmer. Recently 38 newborn s were found dead in the past three months. Sources revealed that most of the newborn were baby girls alleged that seven infants died from July 1 to 15 alone, the number could be more since many cases go unreported. Most of the children were born in houses were mid-wives helped in delivery.

Recently, the leg of a newborn was found on a road, which was picked up by a stray dog. During the investigation, the body of the newborn was found near the village and dogs were eating it. The body of the baby was so disfigured that the ex of the child could not be ascertained and this case was not reported on time.

Similarly two days ago in a village ,the body of a newborn girl was found. Further investigation revealed that the baby was died soon after its birth and the body was thrown in the open. Even this case is not reported either to the police or the appropriate administrative authority.

Though the health department is taking their best efforts to bring down the rate of infant deaths, so far it has not reached upto the mark. The department lacks any field force or complete resources. Eighty two posts of auxiliary nurses and midwives (ANMs) are lying vacant in the district due to which around 60 primary health centres are closed. The villagers are forced to rely on midwives or quacks, due to which there is always a risk of lose of life either to the mother or the child. It has been reported that three women have lost their lives during delivery between April and June.

Anand Gopal Purohit, Chief Medical & Health Officer affirmed that from April 1 to June 30, 31 infants lost their life and reasons quoted were numerous. He added that however, the health department is promoting safe institutional delivery and is trying their best to bring down the infant mortality rate.

According to Purohit, ANMs in PHCs and sub centers had been directed to inform the doctors about the birth and death of newborns. They were also instructed to inform 104 services about child births or death of women in delivery.

District Collector, Shuchi Tyagi expressed his concern over the rise in number of infant mortality rate and added that she had requested the State Government to provide more resources and field force to control such incidents.

 News reported by AR for Newsvision online news blog