Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 22(PTI) In a bid to bring back the pandemic-hit city economy on the track, the Delhi government has started an amnesty scheme for late payment dues on rent lease and brought down interest rate to 10 per cent on such dues, providing relief to factory owners, officials said.

The move will benefit thousands of factory owners in Delhi, ruling AAP's Trade wing convener Brijesh Goyal said.

New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) The assembly elections in Bihar, due later this year, would be held on time, highly placed sources in the Election Commission said on Sunday amid demands by some political parties for postponing the polls in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The term of the 243-member Bihar legislative assembly comes to an end on November 29.

Indications are that the polls could be held sometime in October-November.

"Bihar elections are definitely happening on time," a senior official of the poll panel said on Sunday.

New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday questioned and recorded the statement of Priyanka Singh, elder sister of Sushant Singh Rajput, in connection with a money laundering case probe linked to the actor's death, officials said.

The statement of Priyanka Singh was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Delhi, they said.

New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) With a record spike of 69,874 infections in a day, India's COVID-19 tally increased to 29,75,701, while the recoveries rose to 22,22,577 pushing the recovery rate to 74.69 per cent on Saturday, according to the Union health ministry data

The death toll climbed to 55,794 with 945 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.87 per cent, it said.

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) The Left parties on Thursday hit out at the government over the decision to lease out three airports to the Adani Group, alleging that the move was a "loot of national assets" and would lead to an escalation of ticket prices.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for leasing out airports at Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through public-private partnership (PPP).

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the submission of activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the arguments on quantum of sentence in the contempt proceedings in which he has been held guilty be heard by another top court bench.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra gave assurance to Bhushan that no punishment will be acted upon till his review against the order convicting him in the case will be decided.

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday remembered former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary, saying his contributions to the IT sector will always be remembered.

Born on this day in 1944, Gandhi served as the prime minister between 1984 and 1989.

"Remembering former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary today. His contributions to IT sector will always be remembered," the Vice President Secretariat tweeted.

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted multi-city searches in connection with a money laundering case filed against Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, trusts linked to the Jamaat and others, officials said.

They said various premises in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and a few other locations are being raided to collect evidence.

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Five ex-Congress MLAs of Manipur, who recently resigned from the state assembly and the party, joined the ruling BJP on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

Welcoming them in the party, BJP general secretary and the party's pointsman for the northeast Ram Madhav said there is no threat to the Biren Singh government in Manipur now.

It will not only complete its tenure but will be reelected, he said.

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Several more Air India pilots have moved the Delhi High Court challenging the airline's decision to terminate their services from August 13 on wards.

Justice Jyoti Singh on Wednesday issued a notice to Air India Ltd on the four fresh pleas before her and sought the airline's response to them by next week.

The court also issued notice to the airline on the modification applications moved earlier by other pilots who had wanted directions to Air India to accept withdrawal of their resignations.