Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, Apr 15 (PTI) Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday painted a gloomy picture of the Covid situation in Uttar Pradesh saying dead bodies have been queueing up at crematoriums in the state and no treatment is available to the ailing ones.

Yadav, himself in-home quarantine after testing positive for the infection, alleged that the dismal Covid-19 situation in the state has arisen because of the BJP's "cheap mentality" and its "malice" of undoing the work done by his government.

Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Apr 14 (PTI) Throwing caution to the wind amid rising cases of coronavirus, thousands of seers congregated on Wednesday at Har ki Pairi in Haridwar to take a dip in the Ganga during the third shahi snan of the Kumbh mela.

The royal bath' marked Mesh Sankranti and Baisakhi, and fell two days after a similar convergence of sadhus' and other devotees for the second shahi snan -- events where following social distancing norms appears almost impossible.

Mathura, Apr 14 (PTI) Mathura districts courts were on Wednesday closed for the next two days following the discovery of seven Covid patients in its premises, including five judicial officers, in the last few days.

District Government Counsel (Crime) Shiv Ram Singh said the district judge ordered the closure of court was ordered after two court staffers tested positive for the coronavirus infection on Wednesday.

The district subordinate judiciary chief ordered the closure of the court premises for its sanitisation during the next two days, he added.

Lucknow, Apr 15 (PTI) Most of the main markets here, including Hazratganj and Aminabad, were voluntarily closed by traders for a few days on Thursday, to check the spread of COVID-19 and break its chain.

"In the wake of increase in the number of coronavirus cases, we have decided to voluntarily close the market for sales from April 15 to April 18. We will review this on Sunday evening. Essential services may, however, continue as per government directions," said Vinod Punjabi, Secretary, Hazratganj Traders Association.

Allahabad, Apr 13 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board on Tuesday moved an urgent petition before the Allahabad High Court in the Kashi Vishwanath Mandi-Gyanvapi Masjid case in which the trial court at Varanasi allowed an ASI study of the mosque on April 8.

Sunni Central Waqf Board's standing counsel Puneet Kumar Gupta argued that the trial court passed the order illegally and without its jurisdiction as the matter is in the high court and Justice Prakash Pandia reserved its order on March 15 this year.

Lucknow, Apr 14 (PTI) Voting for the first of the four-phase Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections, seen as a semi-final to the 2022 Assembly election, will be held on Thursday in 18 districts with ballot papers.

More than 3.33 lakh candidates in the fray in over 2.21 lakh seats in the first phase for the posts of zila panchayat (district council) members, kshetra (block) panchayat members, village panchayat heads and wards.

Polling will take place from 7 am to 6 pm.

Lucknow, Apr 14 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said he has tested positive for COVID-19.

He had on Tuesday isolated himself after some officials in his contact tested positive for coronavirus.

"After initial symptoms, I got myself tested. My report is positive. I am in self-isolation and following doctors advice. I am doing all the works virtually," Adityanath tweeted from his official Twitter handle.

Kanpur: Various irregularities have been seen at the city's inter-state Jhakarkatti bus station. In his inspection even the divisional commissioner his expressed his serious annoyance. 

When there is given so much emphasis on ways to control the virus, the Covid help desk was not involved in extending helping hand to the passengers at the bus station. 

What remained more surprising was that the bus conductor was neither provided with hand sanitizer nor mask. The passengers and the roadways employees were also not wearing mask.

Kanpur: Ramazan, a month of prayer and fast, now begins from Wednesday. There has been stress on pursuing guidelines. 

As crowd is not allowed in the wave of the deadly virus only five devouts are allowed in the mosque to offer prayers.

Some think it is like the arrangements made in the last year.

Obligatory prayers can be offered at home but taraweeh is not permitted. There is a condition of several people. 

When the gathering of people is restricted, the more people can not be collected even at the house.

Ghaziabad (UP), Apr 12 (PTI) Police on Monday busted a Delhi-based gang of chain snatchers and arrested four people, an official said.

Indirapuram circle DSP Anshu Jain said the gang was active in Delhi-NCR.

Those arrested have been identified as Rizwan, the gang leader, Khalid, Arif, and Asif.

The police have recovered nine gold chains, two country-made pistols and two knives from their possession.

During interrogation, Rizwan told the police that he used to sell the stolen chains to a goldsmith in Kondli.