North East Rising

Gujarat, Dec 29: Three siblings were rescued nearly after a decade from a dark room where they had been locked up in Rajkot of Gujarat. The three siblings are aged between 30 to 42 years and are well-educated with university degrees. It is said that they are suffering from mental illness.

According to their father, the two brothers and the sister locked themselves up after their mother’s death. But others claimed that their father was superstitious and hid his kin away to protect them from black magic.

All three siblings were discovered after the NGO ‘Saathi Seva Group’ which works for the homeless was tipped off about their condition.

The members of the NGO visited the house in Rajkot’s posh Kishanpara area and broke open the door, they found the room had no access to sunlight, and it was reeking of human faces with stale food and newspapers scattered around.

The siblings are identified as – Amrish Mehta (42), Meghna Mehta (39) and Bhavesh Mehta (30) all found sleeping on the floor. All of them found in a severely malnourished condition with matted hair and long beards.

Their father Naveenbhai Mehta, arrived at his house after the NGO officials revealed that his children have been in such condition since the death of their mother nearly 10 years ago.

The father said that his eldest son Amrish was a practicing lawyer with BA, LLB degrees, while the daughter Meghna (39) is an MA in Psychology. His youngest son Bhavesh has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and was a promising cricket player.

Naveenbhai Mehta said that all three of his children had stopped going out after their mother started keeping ill in 1986. Six years later after she died, they completely shut off from the world and locked themselves in a room.

He said that he used to leave the food outside their room every day. The father also claimed that some people say that some relatives did black magic on them.

Irrespective of the reason for their confinement, the trio needed urgent care, Jalpa Patel of ‘Saathi Seva Group’ said. The NGO official said that the siblings were brought out with the help of the father and have been cleaned, shaved, and clothed in fresh garments.

Patel said they are planning to shift the trio to a place where they can get better food and treatment.

Delhi, Dec 29: Six people who had recently returned from the UK to India have tested positive with the new coronavirus the strain that reportedly spreads at a much faster pace and has sent alarm bells ringing across the world.

A total of 6 samples of 6 UK returnees are positive with the new UK variant genome. According to a government statement, 3 samples in NIMHANS of Bengaluru, 2 in CCMB, Hyderabad, and 1 in NIV, Pune has been detected out of all the samples tested.

Meanwhile, the government has taken cognizance of the reports of the mutant variant of coronavirus being detected in India and has “put in place a pro-active and preventive strategy to detect and contain the mutant variant”.

All 6 infected persons have been kept in single-room isolation in designated health care facilities by respective state governments. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. The government is meanwhile doing a comprehensive contact tracing exercise for co-travelers, family, and others.

Last week, India had suspended flights from the UK till December 31 after the emergence of the new coronavirus strain in the country, that the UK government said has shown signs of being 70% more transmissible.

The government has said in a statement, “The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing, and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.”

The new coronavirus strain first detected in the UK has also been reported in Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore, and a few other nations.

Till Monday, a total of 31 UK returnees had tested positive for coronavirus. All of their samples were sent for further genome sequencing to ascertain whether they have been infected with the mutated strain in the UK.

Delhi, Dec 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated India’s first driverless train operations on the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line, connecting Janakpuri West and Botanical Garden along with the fully operational National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) services on the Airport Express Line on Monday.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also attended the via video conferencing.

Speaking at the event, PM Modi said the inauguration of the first driverless metro train shows how fast the country is moving towards smart systems.

“The first metro in the country was started with the efforts of Atal Ji. When our govt was formed in 2014, only 5 cities had metro services and today 18 cities have metro rail services. By 2025, we will take this service to more than 25 cities,” the Prime Minister said.

All you need to know India’s 1st driverless train:

1) The first ‘driverless’ train in the country will roll out on the 37-km long Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro. The rail network is spread across the national capital region — Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden in Noida.

2) The Prime Minister’s office, in a statement, said that the driverless trains will be fully automated, which will eliminate the possibility of human error.

3) The driverless train technology was inaugurated on the Magenta Line, connecting Janakpuri West and Botanical Garden, but will be extended to the Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar) by mid-2021.

4) The extension of this technology to the Pink Line will increase the driverless network on the Delhi Metro to around 94 km, which is nearly 9% of Delhi Metro’s total network.

5) The ‘driverless’ trains will have six coaches. Each coach can accommodate a maximum of 380 passengers, which translates to 2,280 passengers on each train.

6) It will be equipped with several advanced features such as better regeneration of energy during braking, energy-efficient subsystems like LED lighting and air conditioning systems. They are designed for a maximum speed of 95 kmph and operational speed of 85 kmph, the Delhi Metro had said.

7) The cabin-less trains would be able to accommodate 40 commuters more in a six coach train as the driver’s cab will not be required in such trains.

8) With this, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will enter the elite league of 7% of the world’s Metro networks, which can operate without drivers.

The initial launch was set for May this year, however, the program had to be postponed because of the coronavirus lockdown.