Rain in Uttarakhand, Ganga flowing close to mark

DEHRADUN: Most places in Uttarakhand on Saturday received light rain though the Ganga was flowing close to the danger mark, flooding some villages.

Most of the places across the state, including Dehradun, received light showers, the Met department said on Saturday.

While Nainital received 17.6mm of rain, Dehradun received just 4 mm of rain in the last 24 hours, it said.

The sky is clear in the state capital since morning, it added.

However, Haldwani in Nainital district received heavy showers with the maximum 112mm rainfall recorded there in the past 24 hours, the weather man said.

Incessant rain over the past few days has swollen the Ganga at Haridwar, which was flowing close to the danger mark yesterday, inundating some villages in Luxor area, state disaster management and mitigation centre (DMMC) said.

About 600-700 affected people have been evacuated to safety by the administration, it said.

The Ganga in Haridwar is flowing at 293.70 metres, whereas the danger mark is 294 metres, the DMMC said.

Pauri district was also lashed by moderate rains over the past few days with most of the rivers and canals in Lansdown area in spate.

The administration has asked people living close to the banks of rivers like Nayal and Mander in the area to move to safer places.

Power supply has been affected for the past 15 hours in Kedar valley, authorities here said.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Six migrants drown, at least 100 rescued off Sicily

ROME, Latium: The Italian coastguard found on Saturday the bodies of six migrants dead on a tourist beach in Sicily while more than 100 others, thought to be Syrians, were rescued, officials said.

"The bodies were reported by employees of a beach resort" near the island's second largest city Catania at dawn, a port official said.

Investigators said the boat was carrying around 120 people including women and small children.

"We are transferring the other passengers from the little fishing boat they were in. We assume they are all Syrians," he said, adding that they included women and small children. He did not know where they had set sail from.

Italian media said the six migrants who died could not swim and drowned trying to reach the shore just 15 metres (50 feet) from where the boat ran aground.

Frogmen were searching around the stricken vessel for other possible victims.

Another group of about 100 migrants, mostly Syrian families, were rescued overnight Wednesday off the coast of Calabria on the Italian mainland.

They had left Syria two weeks earlier and had to change boats several times before being left adrift aboard an 11-metre (35-foot) vessel.

Improved weather and calmer waters have seen a spike in boat people arrivals in recent days.

But shipwrecks are frequent because the boats are often old, rickety and overloaded. Human traffickers regularly abandon their passengers when Italian or Maltese coastguards spot them.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Service chiefs, PM need to interact on strategic issues: Former Air chief Tipnis

PUNE: In the wake of tension at the Indo-Pak border, former Air chief Anil Tipnis has underlined a need for regular "informal interaction" between the Prime Minister, defence minister and the three services chiefs to discuss issues of strategic importance.

Making a mention of the equation between the US President and the American armed forces, Tipnis said, "the US President is always in touch with the military commanders, be it Afghanistan or Iraq. He has one-to-one interaction with them. Our chiefs do not meet Prime Minister, who should lend his ear to them. The chiefs have a right to approach the PM to discuss defence matters."

In an interview with a Marathi news channel, on the strategy to deal with a hostile Pakistan he said the terrorist base camps in the neighbouring country can be targeted by the Indian Air Force "without crossing the Line of Control (Loc)" with the technology available.

"But to do this we need intelligence inputs. Real time human intelligence is needed for precision attacks. We can harm them if not destroy," said the former chief who questioned the effectiveness of intelligence network.

"Intelligence is a natural security tool. Our intelligence is not as good as that of Pakistan", he remarked.

Referring to the contradictory statements made by the defence minister A K Antony in Parliament on the Poonch incident in which five Indian soldiers were killed, Tipnis said, "Such discordant notes benefit the enemy."

Disapproving of a soft approach towards Pakistan, he said, "We have to be more aggressive and dominating with Pakistan instead of just reacting. We just react to the Pak moves."

Stating that political leadership should also listen to the military leadership, Tipnis stressed the need for "timely acquisition" of necessary weapons required by the three services to upgrade defence preparedness.

"We have to be well equipped and should be able to take things to logical conclusion", he added.

Observing that Pakistan wants India to break into pieces, Tipnis said the religious fundamentalists in Pakistan and its all powerful army were mutually supporting each other in anti-India posturing.

Describing nuclear warfare as a "strategic thought rather than a reality", he said India should not budge and cow down by Pakistan's nuclear threat.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Jawan shot dead by friend after mistaking him for bear

ITANAGAR: A jawan of the 4th India Reserve Battalion died on the spot when his friend allegedly shot at him mistaking him for a bear in East Kameng district, police said today.

The incident occurred last night when five persons including two IRB jawans had gone hunting in Seijosa area of the district, with private weapons, they said.

The civilian has been arrested, police said.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kashmiri Pandit outfits demand CBI probe in Kishtwar violence

JAMMU: Several KashmiriPanditorganisations on Saturday condemned the communal violence in Kishtwar and demanded a CBI probe.

All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC), a conglomerate of several displaced Kashmiri Pandit outfits, lashed out Minister of State for Home Sajjad Kitchloo, also the local MLA, and accused the district administration of inaction.

"We strongly condemn the Kishtwar communal violence triggered due to the inaction of district administration... and demand immediate dismissal of Kitchloo and ordering of CBI probe into the circumstances that lead to large scale violence in Kishtwar district yesterday," the APMCC chairman Vinod Pandit said in a statement here.

The APMCC demanded action against senior police officers and questioned why the government "had not bothered to issue a single press statement even after such large scale violence".

APMCC general secretary Arun Kandroo demanded providing weapons to the minorities in Kishtwar for their safety and strengthening of village defence commitees (VDC) with communication system.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shinde doing fine, to be discharged from Mumbai hospital in three days

MUMBAI: Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, operated upon for a lung ailment at a Mumbai hospital would be discharged in three days, his daughter said on Friday.

"He is doing perfectly fine and is getting discharged in three days," Praniti Shinde, who is also Congress MLA from Solapur, said.

Shinde, 72, underwent the surgery at Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital on August 4.

He was operated upon for a small growth in the lung. The senior minister is expected to resume his normal activities shortly as the surgery was a minor one.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Modi to kick off BJP's poll campaign with youth rally in Andhra

HYDERABAD: BJP's national election campaign chief Narendra Modi will start the party's campaign for the Lok Sabha elections with a youth rally in Hyderabad on August 11.

"Congress has ruled the country and ruined the country for 55 years. From Parliament to Panchayat, from municipality to Mukhyamantri, every post was held by Congress. It is responsible for all the ills faced by the country.

"That's why we want a 'Congress-mukt Bharat'. Narendra Modi, as the chairman of the campaign committee, will be starting his campaign from Hyderabad on 11th (of August) with a call to the people to make India free of Congress party," senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.

Christened 'Navabharata Yuvabheri' (youth convention for a new India), the meeting will be held at the Lal Bahadur stadium in central part of Hyderabad.

The AP unit of BJP has been doing online as well as offline registration and its move to collect Rs five voluntary contribution towards Uttarakhand rain relief had come under criticism from Congress leaders.

According to state BJP president G Kishan Reddy, one lakh people are expected to attend the meeting and grounds close to the L B stadium have also been arranged for participants to watch the proceedings on screens to be put up.

Replying to a query, he said the collected fund would be given to BJP's state in charge Prabhat Jha tomorrow.

The online registration process is still on, he said. During his visit, the Gujarat chief minister would unveil a statue of Sardar Patel at a school and also interact with the BJP's state office-bearers.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

11 fishermen from east Godavari district go missing at sea

RAJAHMUNDRY, AP: Eleven fishermen of the Kothapalli mandal of east Godavari district went missing since a week, according to a complaint lodged by villagers with the Marine police station here, fishery department officials said.

Five fishermen from Ramannapallem of Kothapalli mandal went to sea on August 3, on a boat owned by M Ramana.

The fishermen made a telephone call to their family members stating that their boat had run out of fuel mid-sea and were stranded.

Another batch of six fishermen left on August 5 to rescue the five stranded fishermen, but they too failed to respond to calls.

There was no information about a total of eleven fishermen and hence the marine police and the state fisheries department have launched a search to trace them, officials said.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nine people killed as taxi rolls down gorge in J&K

SRINAGAR: At least nine people died and four others were injured when a taxi rolled down a gorge in north Kashmir Baramulla district on Friday.

A Tata Sumo taxi rolled down a 150-feet gorge between Barnate and Boniyar villages in Uri Tehsil close to line of control in Baramulla district, a spokesman of the traffic department said.

Six persons were killed on the spot while three others succumbed to injuries while being shifted to a hospital, he said.

Four other passengers were injured in the accident and have been referred to a hospital here, the spokesman said, adding further details of the incident are awaited.

Tata Sumo taxis are allowed to carry only nine passengers.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Forty-eight more bodies extricated from Kedarnath area

DEHRADUN: Forty-eight more bodies were extricated from the heaps of rubble in Uttarakhand's worst flood-hit Kedarnath area by police and NDRF personnel, even as four persons were feared dead when their jeep fell into the swollen Mandakini river.

The bodies, extricated since yesterday, were consigned to flames after necessary rituals, officials said today. With this, the total number of bodies disposed of at the Himalayan shrine area has reached 188 since the start of operations over a month ago.

The police and NDRF personnel had a tough time in pulling out the bodies from the debris, as they had to cut through iron rods of the collapsed structures. While 25 bodies were extricated yesterday, 23 were pulled out today.

Rs 5 lakh in cash, along with items like voter ID cards, mark-sheets and debit cards have been recovered from the Kedarnath area during the clearing-up operations, the officials said.

In Ranikhet, four persons were feared dead after their jeep fell into the swollen Mandakini river yesterday. The vehicle, on its way to to Chabndrapuri in Rudraprayag district from Agastyamuni, was swept away by the river's swirling waters.

Heavy rains continued to lash Uttarkashi and Ranikhet districts of the state today, affecting relief operations.

Rishikesh-Gangotri National Highway was blocked at a number of places beyond Netala in Uttarkashi district due to debris rolling down from the hills, even as an electric pole fell due to heavy rains at Gufiyara, leading to power breakdown at many places in Rudraprayag district, officials said.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More