LEAD

With six days to go for Parliament’s Monsoon Session, both ruling BJP and main opposition Congress are fine-tuning their strategies for the House.

While the Congress on Tuesday announced that it would try to corner the government on the issue of price-rise, senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers, met at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's residence to discuss strategies for the session, which is expected to be rocky after the second wave of Covid-19 and poor performance of the ruling party in the March-April Assembly polls.

BJP president J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah were present at the meeting. Singh heads the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. Union ministers Pralhad Joshi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupender Yadav and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and ministers of state Arjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan, among others, were also present.

After the expansion of the Union Cabinet, the BJP is now gearing up for yet another organisational overhaul. The party had appointed new national office-bearers in September and new state in-charges in November of last year.

With BJP national general secretaries Bhupender Yadav, Annapurna Devi and Bisweswar Tudu finding a place in the Union Cabinet, the party is now looking to fill key positions now lying vacant.

According to sources, the BJP's national leadership will take a final call on the appointment of new national office-bearers soon.

Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the country’s first commercial liquified natural gas (LNG) filling station in Nagpur on Sunday and said more use of alternate fuels such as LNG, CNG or ethanol would bring respite from surging petrol prices, which are now “agitating” people.

Gadkari said the use of ethanol as vehicle fuel would help save at least Rs 20 per litre despite its lower calorific value compared to petrol. His ministry is likely to announce a policy for flex-fuel engines soon, which will encourage automobile manufacturers to produce them. These engines can run on more than one fuel and also a mixture of fuels.

The minister said indigenous fuels such as ethanol, methanol and bio-CNG would give tough competition to imported crude oil and that’s the only way to get the best price for consumers.

New Delhi: Pushkar Singh Dhami, who was recently sworn in as Uttarakhand chief minister, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and sought his directions on the possible third wave of coronavirus, the proposed Kanwad Yatra and the Chardham Yatra against the backdrop of the pandemic. He also sought establishment of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Kumaon region of the state on the lines of AIIMS, Rishikesh. In a tweet, Dhami said he sought the blessings of the prime minister.

“Sought his directions on the state’s development, the possible third wave of Covid-19, Char Dham Yatra and Kanwad Yatra. The prime minister assured all possible help for the state’s development," Dhami tweeted. The Prime Minister’s Office also tweeted pictures of the meeting.

Over 1,500 oxygen plants are being readied across India to be connected to four lakh hospital beds in case of a third wave of Covid-19, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructing officials to work on advanced technology to weave them into a web for smooth monitoring and functioning.

Around 8,000 people are being formally trained to operate and train the plants, the PM was told at a review meeting held on Friday.

The Pressure Swing Absorption plants are being installed at district levels. While the DRDO is installing the plants with partner agencies, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), CPWD and National Buildings Construction Corporation are doing the civil work for them.