Latest news with #ArvindNautiyal
Time of India
7 days ago
- Time of India
Man booked for ‘causing enmity' after post on ‘false' Kedarnath flood situation
Dehradun: An FIR was registered in Dehradun against a man operating a Facebook account under the name Bablu Meena for allegedly sharing a "misleading" video that falsely depicted a flood-like situation in Uttarakhand, "with the intent to create panic among Char Dham pilgrims," police officials said on Saturday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The case was filed on Friday evening following a complaint by head constable Arvind Nautiyal, who is posted at the Char Dham control room in Dehradun. The accused was charged under BNS sections 353(1)(b) (spreading false information to create public fear) and 353(2) (promoting enmity between religious groups), along with section 54 of the Disaster Management Act. Sub-inspector Jagdamba Prasad, who is investigating the matter, said, "The user had uploaded a 15-second video on Facebook with the caption: 'baad ke paani se door rahen' (stay away from flood water). The video shows tourists on a wooden platform near a flooded river in a hilly area, with a sudden surge sweeping some of them away. By Saturday evening, the post had received over 28,000 likes, 339 comments, and more than 750 shares. " He added, "The caption further claimed '17 missing… flood situation in Uttarakhand', which is entirely false and misleading. The video is not from Uttarakhand or Kedarnath. It appears to be aimed at spreading fear and misinformation about the Char Dham pilgrimage. A probe is underway to trace and arrest the accused." The development comes amid a surge in social media posts purportedly showing waterlogged sections of the Kedarnath trek, with several users advising pilgrims to postpone or cancel their travel plans. In one such video, dated June 16, heavy rainwater can be seen gushing along the trek route. A caption accompanying the clip warned: "Don't come to Kedarnath at this time, it's raining heavily." Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Another video, posted three days ago, showed a pilgrim gasping for breath while being offered water by a fellow traveller. The accompanying message reads: "Don't come to Kedarnath now. There are heavy rains and landslides occurring there."
Time of India
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
CAQM calls for transition to cleaner vehicles in Delhi-NCR to combat air pollution
Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has issued an advisory, asking state govts, PSUs and public institutions in Delhi-NCR to switch from petrol or diesel vehicles to cleaner alternatives. CAQM emphasised that policies should be drawn to ensure that all future vehicles contribute to an accelerated roadmap for clean mobility. In a recent advisory to the chief secretaries of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, CAQM said it needed no emphasis that the contribution of the transport sector to the overall air pollution load in the entire NCR was significantly and consistently high throughout the year. 'Among various measures to curb vehicular pollution, the transition to cleaner mobility, preferably towards zero-emission vehicles like battery electric vehicles (BEV) and other such technologies that may develop in the future, assumes significant importance and needs to be accorded priority,' said the advisory issued by CAQM member secretary Arvind Nautiyal. 'While the concerns of vehicular emissions are universal, considering the ultra-high density of vehicular traffic, particularly in Delhi-NCR, there is a need to develop an accelerated roadmap for cleaner mobility, focusing on the transition from polluting vehicles dependent purely on fossil fuels like diesel and petrol,' it added. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at CSE, said, 'Given the pollution crisis in the city and the high contribution of vehicular pollution, Delhi needs a more ambitious electric vehicle programme with clear time-bound regulatory targets for electrification. The mandate for zero tailpipe emissions needs to be sharper and stronger for govt and PSU-owned vehicles.'
Hindustan Times
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
CAQM advises NCR govts, PSUs to switch to cleaner-fuel vehicles
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR, in an advisory, asked state governments, public-sector undertakings and public institutions in the region to transition their vehicular fleet from petrol and diesel to cleaner fuels, such as CNG, or replace them with electric vehicles (EVs). It said policies need to be drafted to ensure all future vehicles procured provide 'an accelerated road map' for clean mobility in NCR. The advisory issued to chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan on May 2, a copy of which was accessed by HT, said that a switch to cleaner mobility was looked at as a feasible option in meetings held on measures to curb vehicular pollution. 'Amongst various measures to curb vehicular pollution, transition to cleaner mobility, preferably towards zero emission vehicles like the Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and other such technologies that may develop in future, assumes significant importance and needs to be accorded priority,' read the advisory, issued by CAQM member-secretary Arvind Nautiyal. 'While the concerns of vehicular emissions are universal, considering the ultra-high density of vehicular traffic particularly in Delhi-NCR, there is a need to develop an accelerated roadmap for cleaner mobility, focusing on transition from polluting vehicles, dependent purely on fossil fuels like diesel and petrol,' the advisory read. It said governments, PSUs and public institutions in Delhi-NCR may take the lead in this context and initiate policy measures which will allow transition to cleaner modes, such as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), compressed natural gas (CNG) cars, compressed biogas (CBG) vehicles, strong hybrid electric vehicles (SHEV), flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) with higher ethanol blending or flex fuel strong hybrid vehicles (FFV-SHEV). '...they may also mandate future purchase and hiring or leasing of only such cleaner mode vehicles' the advisory read. Experts said that while state governments in NCR have been looking at cleaner fuel options for some time, the goal should be to focus on zero-tailpipe emissions. 'Delhi has been experimenting with CNG for quite some time too, but ideally, we should have zero-emission vehicles to completely reduce pollution from a source. If governments, PSUs and public institutions make a transition, it not only reduces the quantum of polluting vehicles on the roads, but sets a clear example to the public too,' said Amit Bhatt, managing director (India), International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). The vehicular sector remains a key source of pollution in the capital and the area around it. Emission inventory studies for Delhi done by IIT Kanpur in 2015, TERI-ARAI in 2018 and Safar in 2018 pointed out that the transport sector's contribution to PM2.5 (finer particulate matter) was 20%, 39% and 41%, respectively. Among combustion sources, it was the highest source and overall, the second biggest source behind dust, data showed.
