Kushinagar, May 11 (IANS) Seven members of a family were burnt to death after a massive fire engulfed their entire house in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district.
The victims comprised four minor girls, their mother and grandparents.
While the woman and four of her daughters died on the spot, her eldest daughter (8) was rescued by the police.
The elderly couple, who were rushed to a local hospital in a critical condition, succumbed to their burn injuries during treatment.
The cause behind the fire is yet to be ascertained but locals said that the clay oven was not properly doused after preparing food.
Raging flames triggered panic among villagers, who informed firefighters.
According to locals, firefighters did not reach the spot in time.
However, Kushinagar District MagistrateRamesh Ranjan, along with SP Dhawal Jaiswal, rushed to the spot.
Senior police officials supervised the rescue operation.
Taking cognisance of the tragedy, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia for each of the deceased, which will be given to the next of kin.
He directed the officials to provide all assistance to members of the family.
According to SP Dhawal Jaiswal, an inquiry had been initiated to identify the reason behind the fire.
Officials said that the father, Shohrat, is an auto driver.
He was in the market when the incident took place.
According to Shohrat, flames trapped his family members and prevented their way out.
In Cachar, three people were arrested with 1.80 lakh tablets used for intoxication on Sunday in the Lakhipur area in the district. Police informed that the international market value of seized tablets is around Rs 50 crore. The accused were identified as Abdul Saeed, Ibazur Rahman and Sameer Alam, all residents of the Cachar district.
Further, police teams have been sent to Tosh in Himachal Pradesh after it was revealed that he, along with his live-in partner, had stayed there for quite a long time. Aftab had strangled his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar on May 18 and then chopped her body into many pieces.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the government has approved the OPS for its employees currently covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS), fulfilling a long-pending demand of employees of the state.
The affected girl students of Kasturba Gandhi College in West Maredpally, Secunderabad were hospitalised with complaints of breathlessness and dizziness. The college authorities denied that there was any gas leak from college lab. They said foul smell from garbage dump on the college boundary wall led to students falling ill.
Punjab has only two per cent of India's population, while it has nearly 10 per cent of the total licensed weapons which stand at nearly 4 lakh, or 13 gun licenses for every 1,000 persons in the state.
The Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday asked the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab to list development works initiated by it as well as disclose capital assets created to justify the "unprecedented" borrowing of Rs 39,200 crore for nine months of the current fiscal with Rs 14,700 crore being borrowed for the third quarter.
