SURAJKUND (Haryana): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave tips to the newly-elected MPs of the BJP on how to maintain standards in public life and take the message of good governance to the people.

After inaugurating a two-day workshop for over 150 newly elected Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs of the BJP, Modi guided them on how to nurture their respective constituencies and make use of the media, especially the social media in spreading the party message.

BJP leader Venakiah Naidu told reporters that the workshop for the first time MPs of the party was organised to train them in parliamentary procedures and make them aware of the BJP ideology.

Naidu said the PM guided the MPs on how to "maintain standards in public life, how to take the message of good governance to the people, the message of BJP and in turn of Modi to people".

BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi, who is in charge of party affairs in Haryana, said the Prime Minister told them that their responsibilities as members of the ruling party are different and they should behave accordingly.

Modi told them that they should treat the rule book on Parliament proceedings like the Bhagavad Gita and should not step out of it. He also advised them not do anything in Parliament without the permission of the Chair.

The PM asked the new MPs to inculcate good parliamentary practices and good conduct in their public life.

Haryana BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma said Modi, who is also a first-time MP, wanted to stay for the entire length of the workshop but could not do so as he had other responsibilities to fulfil in his new role as Prime Minister.

Modi arrived here at 8.30 this morning and inaugurated the workshop with Home Minister and BJP president Rajnath Singh and spent about two hours.

The workshop will be addressed by senior party leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Naidu during the day.

Party leaders had earlier said the workshop will impart training to them on how to put good questions in Parliament and the kind of urgent public matters to raise during Zero Hour debates in both the Houses.

The workshop will also stress upon them to improve their attendance in Parliament and strengthen their skills by reflecting on problems of their constituencies and mitigate public suffering by helping to find solutions for them.

The MPs will also be given some lessons on their public conduct.

The workshop comes ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament starting July 7. — PTI

5 killed, 7 injured in blast at Alang ship-breaking yard 

BHAVNAGAR: Five persons were killed today and seven others injured when a blast triggered by a suspected gas leak took place in a ship being dismantled at the Alang ship-breaking yard in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat.

"Five persons were killed while seven others sustained injuries after a fire broke out following a blast in the ship which was being dismantled in plot number 140 at the yard," Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) K J Rathod of Marine Police Station, Alang said.

Prima facie, the blast occurred due to sudden gas leakage when ship-breaking activity was in progress, the officer said.

The intensity of the blast claimed five lives on the spot while the injured were rushed to the nearest hospitals for treatment, he said.

The exact reason behind the explosion has not been ascertained yet, PSI Rathod said, adding the FSL officials are on the spot for carrying out further investigation.

The cause will be clear only after forensic reports come. — PTI

HYDERABAD: The death toll in the GAIL pipeline fire tragedy in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh rose to 16 with an injured succumbing today, while six persons were battling for life with severe burns, the police said.

At least 15 persons were killed and nearly two dozen others injured when an apparently leaking gas pipeline of GAIL caught fire and triggered a blast in Nagaram village in the coastal district, about 560km from here, yesterday.

"A baby girl, who was undergoing treatment for severe burns, died today at a private hospital in Kakinada. With this the toll in the incident rose to 16," East Godavari District Superintendent of Police G Vijay Kumar told PTI over phone.

The SP said 20 others who suffered burn injuries were undergoing treatment at different hospitals. The condition of at least six of them remains critical as they have suffered around 80 per cent burns.

The leaping flames from the pipeline passing through the village in Mamidikuduru mandal quickly swept through nearby houses and coconut plantations, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Leaking gas had enveloped some areas of the village and the tragedy occurred when a tea shop vendor lit up a stove, setting off a blast, police had earlier said. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Delhi University today formally scrapped its controversial four-year undergraduate programme after a resolution to revert back to the three-year format was passed by the university's Academic and Executive Councils.

The development has come a day after DU Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh announced that the university has agreed to roll back FYUP as directed by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Emergent meetings of the two statutory bodies of the university had been called this morning to pass the resolution for implementation of the three-year undergraduate programme and to follow admission process as conducted under the scheme of courses that were in force in the academic session 2012-13.

The resolution was passed with a majority by both the councils. However, no discussions took place.

"The Academic Council (AC) has passed the resolution to implement the three-year under graduate programme without holding any discussion which is very unfortunate," Sanjay Kumar, AC member who opposed the resolution, said.

Same was the scenario at the EC meeting. "In Executive Council, VC Dinesh Singh tabled resolution and passed it within few minutes," EC member Aditya Narayan Mishra said.

With no discussions taking place, the fate of students enrolled into the B.Tech and Bachelor in Management Sciences (BMS) courses was still unknown even as a meeting of newly-set up panel of principals asked to devise the modalities for admissions is at present underway.

"A 12-member committee of principals formed by DU V-C will look after the B.Tech issue and it has to take final call on this matter," Mishra said.

Hundreds of B.Tech students staged a protest outside the VC's office demanding that their course should not be changed to a three-year programme.

Delhi University yesterday decided to scrap the FYUP after UGC mounted pressure to roll it back.

The V-C yesterday issued a statement asking principals of various colleges affiliated to the varsity to start admissions for the new session under the three-year format.

The decision has put an end to the uncertainty over the admission process for 2014-15 which was triggered due to the row over FYUP between DU and UGC.

Over 2.7 lakh students have applied for admission to more than 54,000 seats in 64 colleges of the varsity. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy has deployed its warship in the Persian Gulf as the government continues efforts to ensure safety of Indian nationals stranded in Iraq.

INS Mysore has been deployed in the Persian Gulf as it has been asked to be on standby by the government after the meeting of the crisis management group on Friday, Navy sources said here.

The warship has been asked to be remain there and await further instructions, they said.

The Navy has another warship INS Tarkash deployed in the Gulf of Aden and if required, both the ships can be pressed into evacuation operations, they said.

The meeting headed by Cabinet Secretary on Friday had discussed the possibility of evacuating Indians from Iraq.

The IAF also has its aircraft on standby and if asked, it can deploy its C17 and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft at short notice for any such evacuation operation, the sources said.

India has so far evacuated from Iraq around 36 of its nationals who had expressed willingness to return to India.

Around 10,000 Indians are staying in different parts of Iraq but all of them are not facing problems due to the ongoing conflict between the Iraqi government and the Sunni militant group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). — PTI

NEW DELHI: Ten persons, including five children and three women, were killed while two others injured when a 50-year-old dilapidated four-storeyed building today collapsed in a congested area in north Delhi, the police said.

Two injured persons, who were rescued from under the debris are recuperating in the hospital, the police said.

"Ten persons, including five children and three women, have been killed in the building collapse while two persons have been injured. Rescue operations are still on and debris is being removed," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma.

An Assistant Junior Engineer and a Junior Engineer of NDMC's Karol Bagh zone have been suspended, NDMC PRO Yogendra Singh Mann said, adding that an inquiry has been ordered into the incident in Inderlok area.

"The Commissioner has ordered an inquiry into the incident under Additional Commissioner (Engineering) of the corporation and errant civic officials in this connection will not be spared, if found guilty of any irregularity," he said.

NDMC officials suspect construction work at an adjacent building may be one of the reasons behind the building collapse.

"A notice was also sent to the neighbouring plot to stop construction earlier but by continuing to dig, they have violated the order and hence due action will be taken against that party, if found guilty post the municipal inquiry," Mann said.

According to fire officials, they got a call around 9 am about a building collapsing at Tulsi Nagar in Inderlok following which four fire tenders were rushed to the spot for the rescue operations.

"We got a call about the incident at 8:55 am. The building was around 50 years old and a number of families lived there," said Verma. He said it was an "unauthorised" building and investigations were underway in this regard. 

North Delhi Mayor Yogender Chandolia said, "I believe such incidents are taking place also due to unauthorised constructions." The incident took place in a congested locality and seems to have been caused by construction work on an adjacent plot, a fire official said.

Officials from Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and NDMC were pressed into rescue and relief operations soon after the collapse.

Those pulled out of the debris were rushed to Bara Hindu Rao hospital and Acharya Bhikshu Hospital.

The narrow bylanes of the area hampered the movement of fire tenders and cranes to the spot. In its pre-monsoon survey for the first four months of the year, the NDMC had found 140 buildings in north Delhi as dangerous.

A total of 144 buildings were identified as dangerous for the period, with Sadar Paharganj zone alone accounting for 137 such structures, according to a survey report recently released by the NDMC.

While one building in Karol Bagh Zone and four in the City Zone were identified as dangerous, two structures were flagged in Rohini Zone where partial demolition has taken place, it said. — PTI