London cycling event to raise funds for Covid relief in South Asia
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Jun, 2021 01:04 PM
London, June 11 (IANS) The Prince of Wales and Manoj Badale, lead owner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Rajasthan Royals, on Thursday flagged off a cycling event here to raise funds for Covid relief in South Asia.
More than 30 cyclists, who started off at Highgrove in Gloucestershire, are taking part in the 420km-long event that will see them visit some of England's most iconic royal households and palaces over four days, a Rajasthan Royals statement on Friday.
Badale, who is also the British Asian Trust chairman, aims to raise funds to help people who have "suffered from the effects of the pandemic".
The team is being led by Rohit Chadha, a supporter of the British Asian Trust and founder of the event.
Rajasthan Royals had announced Rs 7.5 crore as contribution towards Covid relief to help with "immediate support to people in India impacted by the surge" of the pandemic.
"We've all got our responsibility to do our bit for the people of South Asia that are suffering at the hands of a devastating pandemic, especially the ones that are disadvantaged. It's an initiative that is looking pan-region and to harness complete effort towards regenerating a certain section of the population that needs help on various fronts," said Badale in the statement.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday condemned the Congress government in Punjab for allegedly discriminating against teachers and forcing them to come to the streets, and asked state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla not to behave in an 'arrogant' and 'dictatorial' manner and resolve the grievances of government school teachers immediately.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
The electronic conversation took place as US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that India will receive Covid vaccines directly from the US stockpile, the White House said.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General M.M. Naravane, reached Kashmir on Wednesday on a two-day visit to review the prevailing security situation in the Union Territory (UT), the army said in a statement.
"There have been several unfounded media reports that have peddled misinformation among the masses regarding this exercise of national importance," a ministry statement said, adding that the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far stand at 21,85,46,667.
The Congress said that it was "appropriate for our initial statement to note that the intrusion by Israeli forces into the Holy Al Aqsa mosque during Ramzan prayers had ruptured the delicate peace in the region".
