Indore, Madhya Pradesh:

Kashmir’s saffron and willow trees, Nepal’s Rudraksh, Thailand’s dragon fruit, Australia’s avocados, Italy’s olives and Mexico’s dates – all now thrive on the same hillock where once upon a time even grass didn’t foster. Welcome to Keshar Parvat, a lush green forest developed on a barren rocky hill. Nestled in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, the forest is home to thousands of trees of different varieties, making it a dream destination for nature lovers. The credit for this goes to Dr Shankar Lal Garg, Founder and Director of World Researchers Associations.

In 2015, Dr Garg, a retired Principal and his family decided to convert a barren hillock to a forest. They had purchased the land in Mhow town of Indore to start a school-college but when things didn’t work out, the environment lover decided to create a forest. And then began the arduous journey of planting trees, bringing water, nurturing plants and proving villagers that a barren hill too can be a home to greenery.

74-year-old Dr Garg began by planting neem, peepal and lemon trees. Gradually, the number and variety of trees increased and in eight years (July 2016 to August 2024), Dr Garg planted 40,000 trees of more than 500 species on rocks and stones. This includes Kalpvraksh (Tree of Heaven), Saffron, Rudraksh, Apple, Dragon, Olives, Lichi, African Tulips, and Cardamom Flowers, among others.

Keshar Parvat also hosts wood trees including Teakwood, Rosewood, Sandalwood, Mahogani, Banyan, Sal, Anjan, Bamboo, Willow, Deodar, Pine, Dahiman, Khamar, and Silver Oak.

15,000 trees are over 12 feet tall. The plants at Keshar Parvat boast a survival rate of 95%.

Neither of these plants is supplied with additional fertiliser. The nitrogen and sulphur present in rainwater fulfills plants’ requirements, said Dr Garg.

Keshar Parvat derives its name from Saffron, a plant native to Kashmir’s mountains. In 2021, for the first time, 25 saffron flowers bloomed in the forest. The number gradually rose to 100 in 2022 and increased by five-fold in 2023.

“We have learnt the technique of how to grow saffron in a hot place having a temperature 43 degrees,” says Dr Garg.

When asked about the secret, Dr Garg said, he controls ground temperature by giving cold water to the plants. Shady conditions were created and the temperature is maintained around 18 degrees during the day and 5 degrees at night.

“We wish that fragrance and beauty of Keshar Parvat spreads everywhere just like Saffron, the Red Gold,” he added.

Not just temperature, Dr Garg was also faced with the water crisis. The team dug three bores at 600 feet but the search for water ended in a dry pit. Therefore, water tankers were purchased to irrigate the fields. Later, a pond was built to collect water. The same water is supplied to plants through drip irrigation.

More Than Plants

The flora has attracted fauna. The dense forest is home to 30 types of birds, 25 types of butterflies and wild animals like Jackal, Neel Gai, Rabbits, Scorpion, Wild Pigs, and Hyena.

Keshar Parvat offers free entry to visitors. It has a conference cum meditation hall; a sensory garden and a cricket ground for children with disabilities.

Dr Garg aims to plant 10,000 more trees and achieve the larger goal of “Save environment; save earth.”

Bhopal/ Indore:

The work to remove 377 metric tonnes of hazardous waste from the now-defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal has got underway ahead of its planned disposal near Indore.

The development comes weeks after the Madhya Pradesh High Court chided the authorities for not taking action despite repeated directions to clear the site in the Madhya Pradesh capital.

The highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticides factory on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killing 5,479 persons and leaving more than five lakh others with health problems and long-term disabilities.

On Sunday morning, half-a-dozen GPS-enabled trucks with specially reinforced containers reached the factory site as part of the waste disposal process.

Several workers wearing special PPE kits and officials of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, environmental agencies, doctors and incineration experts were seen working at the site. Police were also deployed around the factory.

The toxic waste will be moved to an incineration site in Pithampur near Indore, around 250 km from Bhopal, sources said.

The MP High Court on December 3 set a four-week deadline to shift the toxic waste from the factory, observing that even 40 years after the gas disaster, the authorities were in a “state of inertia” that may cause “another tragedy”.

Describing it as a “sorry state of affairs”, the HC warned the government of contempt proceedings if its directive was not followed.

“The waste of Bhopal gas tragedy is a stigma which is going to disappear after 40 years. We will dispose it by sending it safely to Pithampur,” Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of the state’s Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department told PTI.

He said a “green corridor” of about 250 km will be created by managing traffic to transport the waste from Bhopal to Pithampur in the shortest possible time.

Singh refused to give a specific date for the transportation of the waste and its subsequent disposal at Pithampur, but sources said in view of the HC direction, the process can start soon and the waste might reach its destination by January 3.

The official said initially some part of the waste will be burnt at the disposal unit of Pithampur and the residue (ash) will be scientifically examined to find out whether any harmful element is left in it.

“If everything is found to be fine, then the waste will be burnt to ashes within three months. Otherwise, the speed of burning will be slowed down and it might take up to nine months,” Mr Singh said.

The smoke emitted from the incinerator will be passed through four-layer special filters so that the surrounding air is not polluted and a record of this process would be kept every moment, he said.

Once the waste is incinerated and freed from harmful elements, the ash will be covered with a two-layer strong “membrane” and buried at the “landfill” to ensure it does not come in contact with soil and water in any way, Mr Singh said.

The waste would be destroyed by an expert team under the supervision of officials from the Central Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Board and a detailed report would be submitted to the HC, he added.

A group of locals and activists claim that after 10 tonnes of Union Carbide waste was destroyed on a trial basis in Pithampur in 2015, the soil, underground water and water sources of the surrounding villages have become polluted.

However, Mr Singh rejected the claim.

“It has been decided to destroy 337 metric tonnes of Union Carbide waste in Pithampur’s waste disposal unit only after examining the report of this test of 2015 and all the objections,” he said.

“This unit has all the arrangements to dispose of the waste safely and there is nothing to worry about,” he added.

Amid reports of thewaste reaching Pithampur, having a population of about 1.75 lakh, a large number of people on Sunday took out a protest rally wearing black bands on their hands.

Led by a group named ‘Pithampur Kshetra Raksha Manch’, they held placards with slogans like “We will not let Pithampur become Bhopal” and “Save Pithampur, remove toxic waste”.

Protester Rajesh Chaudhary said, “We want the air quality of Pithampur to be re-examined by scientists before the Union Carbide factory waste is destroyed. We will also try our best to present our case in the court.” Pithampur, an industrial town about 30 km from Indore and 45 km from the district headquarters Dhar, has about 1,250 small and big units.

Goutam Kothari, president of Pithampur Industrial Organisation, said, “We are satisfied with the arrangements made for burning down the Union Carbide waste at the industrial waste disposal unit of Pithampur.

He said the waste disposal should not be made a bogey on the basis of baseless apprehensions and local people should not be scared.

But if any accident occurs in Pithampur during the waste destruction, then his organisation will launch a protest, Mr Kothari added.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

An argument over children bursting crackers in Diwali escalated into a clash between two groups in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city on Friday, resulting in injuries to four persons and prompting police to hold a flag march to restore order.

The incident occurred in the Chhatripura area, Deputy Commissioner of Police Rishikesh Meena told reporters.

“Some people argued with children bursting crackers. An old rivalry between neighbours fanned this. It soon led to stone pelting between two groups, resulting in minor injuries to four persons. Some vehicles were also damaged in the stone pelting,” he said.

“A flag march was carried out in the area, where the situation now is completely under control. People must ignore rumours and maintain peace. There is a sizable police presence in the Chhatripura area. We are checking CCTV footage to identify those who disturbed law and order,” Meena added.

The area has residents from Hindu and Muslim communities, another official said.

After the stone pelting incident, members of a Hindu outfit protested in front of the Chhatripura police station seeking action against those from the other side.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

The quality of several crucial medicines in Madhya Pradesh has come under scrutiny, leading to a state-wide ban on more than nine essential drugs and injections.

The Madhya Pradesh Public Health Service Corporation Limited (MPPHSCL) has identified these medicines as substandard, raising concerns about patient safety across all districts in the state.

NDTV has got a copy of a shocking report that exposed this life-threatening fraud.

The issue first came to light when doctors at a government hospital in Indore saw that patients were not responding to treatment as expected. This prompted an investigation into the medicines supplied by MPPHSCL, uncovering significant irregularities. A large batch of medicines, including life-saving drugs and antibiotics, was found to be of poor quality, prompting immediate action.

“Our team reported that many injections were not working as expected; those that should be administered once had to be given twice,” said Dr Sumit Shukla, Superintendent of Government Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College.

The situation turned dire in Damoh, where five pregnant women died after they took intravenous saline.

In response, MPPHSCL has banned the use of these medicines across the state.

“We have a comprehensive system to check all medicines procured or sold in the market. There is a full department and a laboratory dedicated to this task. When medicines are purchased, their certificates are thoroughly checked, and once the medicines arrive, samples are collected and sent to the laboratory for testing,” said state Health Minister Narendra Shivaji Patel, adding the government is committed to transparency and safety.

“Our doctors and laboratories have identified the suppliers or factories that produced these ineffective or potentially harmful medicines. This shows that our system is working effectively to protect public health. If any supplier is found attempting to distribute substandard medicines, they will be banned, blacklisted, and subjected to strict legal action. We will take all necessary steps to ensure that our citizens are not harmed,” Mr Patel said.

Despite strict regulations requiring NABL-certified lab reports for medicine supplies in government hospitals, the reality suggests a lapse in quality control. Many of the banned drugs, including those used in intensive care units (ICUs) and operation theatres, are still available in private shops, raising further concerns.

NDTV went to a medicine shop in Bhopal’s biggest government hospital, Hamidia, to uncover the ground reality of the availability of banned medicines. Despite the state’s recent crackdown on substandard drugs, NDTV was able to easily purchase Heparin and Nitroglycerin injections. These are part of the nine life-saving drugs recently banned due to quality concerns of the same manufacturer.

The process was disturbingly straightforward. We approached the medicine shop inside Hamidia Hospital, requested the injections, made the purchase, and received an official bill – all without any hindrance.

These injections, which are critical in emergency care settings such ICUs and operation theatres, were supposed to be banned following the state’s directive. The ease with which these injections were obtained at Hamidia is not an isolated incident. Our investigation extended to private shops outside JP Hospital, where the same banned injections were readily available.

“Many of these medicines are life-saving. In the ICU, we administer dopamine to patients with dangerously low blood pressure. Additionally, when a patient suffers a cardiac arrest, we use non-adrenaline during CPR. These medicines are crucial in emergency situations, and their quality must be impeccable,” said Dr Ashok Thakur of MY Hospital. “Any deficiency in these drugs can lead to adverse outcomes, putting patients’ lives at risk,” he said.

The real question remains – how long has this compromised quality persisted? With more than 90 per cent of hospitals in the state facing a shortage of essential medicines and the quality of supplied drugs in question, the situation is alarming.

Indore:

Unhappy over the dismissal of his civil suit, a 65-year-old petitioner allegedly threw a garland of shoes at a district judge here in the courtroom on Tuesday, police said.

Mohammad Salim had filed a case in the court alleging that a mosque had been constructed by encroaching on government land in the Azad Nagar area of Indore.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Vinod Kumar Dixit told reporters that the district court judge dismissed Mr Salim’s civil suit after hearing arguments from both sides and observing that the mosque was not built on encroached land.

“As soon as Mr Salim heard this decision of the court, he took out a garland of shoes which he had hidden in his clothes and threw it towards the judge,” he said.

Mr Salim’s son Mohammed Raees was also present in the courtroom when the incident occurred.

An FIR would be lodged against the father and son under relevant legal provisions, Mr Dixit said.

Meanwhile, Mr Raees alleged that lawyers beat him and his father after the incident.

“The lawyers tore the clothes of my father and stripped him”, he claimed, adding that police personnel rescued him and his father from the lawyers and brought them to MG Road police station.

“My father was fighting the case for 12 years. He had said in the lawsuit that the mosque had been constructed by encroaching on the drainage line of the government land of the municipal body in Azad Nagar area and this construction is against Islam,” Mr Raees said.

Indore Advocate Association’s Secretary Kapil Birthare rejected Mr Raees’s allegations against the lawyers.

“The incident of throwing a garland of shoes towards the judge in the courtroom is very unfortunate. Strict action should be taken against the accused in the incident,” he said.

Mr Birthare also demanded that strict security arrangements be made in the district court premises to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

A 53-year-old man in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore kept his live-in partner’s body at his home for three days and later stuffed it in a sack and abandoned it on the road as he did not have money for her last rites, police said on Monday.

The decomposed body of a 57-year-old woman was found in a sack abandoned in the Chandan Nagar area on Sunday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Nandini Sharma told PTI.

“We did not find any injury on the woman’s body. A post-mortem showed that she was suffering from liver-related problems and other diseases for a long time, which led to her natural death,” she said.

The woman had been living with a man for the last 10 years, she said.

The police found the man in a garden in the Rajmohalla area, and he appeared to be mentally weak, the official said.

Neighbours had complained to him about a foul smell emanating from his house, she said.

“Investigations revealed that the man had kept the body in the house for three days. Neighbours complained about the foul smell, after which he put the body in a sack on Saturday night and took it about 200 meters from his house. He was unable to drag the sack any further and left it on the road,” the official said.

The man informed that he abandoned the body because he did not have money for the last rites, she said, adding that a detailed investigation is underway into the woman’s death.

Chandan Nagar police station in-charge Indramani Patel said the police performed the last rites of the woman on Monday. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

The proprietors of food shops in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore have decided to offer poha, jalebis and ice cream free of cost to those who cast their votes in the early hours of polling in the Lok Sabha polls next month.

The largest constituency in terms of number of voters in the state will vote on May 13.

According to the shop owners, the decision to offer free food items was taken on Tuesday at a meeting of these commercial establishments chaired by District Magistrate Ashish Singh.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Singh said, “We want to make Indore Lok Sabha constituency number one in the country in terms of voting and for this, the help of commercial establishments is being taken.” Gunjan Sharma, president of the merchant association of the city’s famous chaat-chowpatty food hub “56 shop”, said that people who vote between 7 am and 9 am will be served free poha and jalebi at this most famous place in the city.

“Senior citizens casting their votes during this period and youth voting for the first time in their lives will be served free ice cream along with poha and jalebi at our chaat-chowpatty. To avail of this offer, they have to show the indelible ink mark on their finger to the shopkeepers,” he said.

Some other commercial establishments in the city have offered to serve delicacies like noodles and Manchurian free of cost to people who vote in the morning hours, officials said.

Indore Lok Sabha constituency had recorded 69 per cent voting in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In the upcoming elections, 25.13 lakh people are eligible to vote in this area.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

Four women were arrested for allegedly beating up, stripping and parading a 30-year-old woman over a dispute at a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district, police said on Wednesday.

A video of the purported incident that occurred during the Holi celebrations also surfaced on social media.

“On Monday, four women forcibly pulled the victim out of her house, beat her up and humiliated her by stripping her naked in public at Bachhora village of Gautampura police station area,” Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sunil Mehta said.

All four accused women were later arrested, he said.

Mehta visited the village on Wednesday, and said peace prevails there now.

But as the victim is disturbed due to her humiliation, she has gone to her parents’ home, he said.

One of the accused suspected that the victim was instigating her mother-in-law against her. She also suspected that the victim had taken her mother-in-law to Mandsaur without informing her, the police official said.

The victim and the accused women belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, he added.

According to him, some onlookers in the village shot the video of the humiliating act and circulated it.

These people are being identified and appropriate legal steps will be taken against them, he said.

Eyewitnesses said the accused women dragged the victim out of her house and stripped her.

They said that the victim woman kept pleading for mercy at the time of the incident, but the accused did not relent and they openly stripped her by tearing her clothes. They also took her to some distance on the common road of the village in the same condition.

A police officer said that a case has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354-A (sexual harassment) and 452 (wrongfully restraining and assaulting).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

After BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya was fielded in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, party supporters started celebrations in Indore on Monday.

The BJP supporters celebrated outside the residence of Mr Vijayvargiya in Indore.

Meanwhile, the BJP leader said that the central leadership’s decision was “surprising” and that he will do whatever they say. Mr Vijayvargiya has been fielded from Indore-1 constituency.

Speaking to ANI, he said, “This is the party’s order. I was told that I would be assigned work that I would not say ‘no’ and I would have to do it. When the tickets were declared, I too was surprised. I am the party’s soldier. I will do whatever they say.”

“Although I had said that I do not want to contest the elections, senior leaders of the party gave me some directions the day before yesterday. I was in a conundrum and after the announcement was made, I was left surprised. I am privileged that I got the opportunity to participate in electoral politics and I will try to fulfil the party’s expectations,” he added.

The ruling BJP on Monday released its second list of 39 candidates for the forthcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh. The new list, announced hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a massive gathering of BJP workers in Bhopal, includes four party MPs and three Union Ministers.

The BJP’s second list features three central ministers — Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of State (MoS) for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel, and Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste.

While Mr Tomar will contest from the Dimni seat, Mr Patel and Mr Kulaste will contest from Narsingpur and Niwas respectively.

The BJP released its first list of candidates on August 17, revealing the names of 39 candidates.

Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to go for the assembly polls later this year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

The mayor-in-council of Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Friday cleared a proposal in a meeting to replace ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ at its functions and in its correspondence, officials said.

The proposal, which was cleared by Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava, will now be placed before the 85-member house of the Indore Municipal Corporation, which is likely to meet next month to give its approval, officials informed.

“Naming the country as India was a gift from the British, whereas addressing it as Bharat reflects our rich historical and cultural heritage. Even as per the Constitution, the name of our country is Bharat,” Mr Bhargava told PTI.

Over the past few weeks, there has been speculation in several quarters that the Union government is contemplating changing the name of the country from ‘India’ to ‘Bharat’.

Several experts have maintained that both names Bharat and India, mentioned in Article 1 of the Constitution as ‘India, that is Bharat…’ are part of the country’s heritage and “completely legitimate”. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)