Page 843 - Disaster Accident
Drought-hit farmers to get govt aid in Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh
At least 9,50,452 drought-hit farmers will get compensation in a special programme initiated by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, a statement said on Wednesday.Compensation of as much as Rs 609.70 crore will be provided to farmers from 21 out of 27 districts in the state after the Chief Minister directed district collectors to remunerate those affected, the statement said.The Chief Minister instructed the concerned officials to make sure that no drought-hit farmer is left without compensation.An official said as many as Rs 16,30,00,000 has been given in compensation to 20, 943 farmers in Raipur.Last year, after 96 sub-divisions were hit by drought in the state, the Raman Singh-led government had sanctioned a sum of Rs 546 crore to compensate farmers.
4th nor'easter in 3 weeks, Winter Storm Toby wreaks havoc
Winter Storm Toby, the fourth nor'easter in less than three weeks, is bearing down on the storm-ravaged East Coast in the United States, with a fresh blanket of snow.A day after the official beginning of spring, the storm is bringing heavy snow, strong winds and possible coastal flooding to some areas.It has the potential to be one of the most significant and disruptive snowstorms for so late in the season, CNN meteorologists reported."If the current forecast pans out, this nor'easter will dump more snow on Washington, Philadelphia and New York than the three earlier storms combined," CNN quoted meteorologist Brandon Miller as saying.More than 70 million people are under a winter storm watch, warning or advisory from the Appalachians to Boston.As of Wednesday afternoon, Winter Storm Toby had already wrecked havoc on the south - bringing hail, heavy winds and tornado warnings to Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky, according to TIME magazine.About 4,800 flights have been canceled due to the
Five injured in fire due to washing machine compressor blast
Four members of a family and their neighbour were injured in a fire caused by the blast of a washing machine compressor at their residence in suburban Chembur this evening, a civic official said. According to the disater control room of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the incident took place at around 6 pm at the residence of Subhash Kamble. "Four members of the family, including two women and a 12-year-old boy, were injured in the fire due to the machine compressor blast," he said. Those injured were identified as Subhash Kamble (65), Manisha (34), Kiran (40), Daksh (12) and their neighbour Pooja Hinduja, the official added. They were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, the official said.
Five killed, over 50 injured in two road accidents in Shimla distt
Five persons were killed while fifty-four others sustained serious injuries in two accidents in Shimla district today. Four persons including two women and a child were killed and four others were seriously injured when an Alto car rolled into a gorge near Banuti about 10 km from here on the ShimlaBilaspur road, police said. Locals spotted the wreckage and informed the police. The bodies were extricated while the injured persons were rushed to IGMC Hospital at Shimla. The deceased were identified as Devender (30), Gayatri (35), Poonam (33) and Hemant (4) while the injured admitted to IGMC included Chuni Lal, Sachin (5), Kavya (5) and Narvada (28). In another accident, one person was killed and 50 others were injured when a HRTC bus skidded off the road and landed into a farm near Sharyla in Rampur subdivision of Shimla district this evening. The ill-fated bus was on its way from Rampur to Darkali when the accident took place. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur expressed grief over the ...
Air India reschedules some US-India flights
Air India has rescheduled some of its flights bound for India today from the USA due to inclement weather in the north eastern part of the country, the airline tweeted. Air India's London-Newark flights (both the directions) have been cancelled along with the Newark-Ahmedabad flight. Flight number AI 102 from New York to New Delhi has been rescheduled and its revised time of departure is 12.15 PM on March 22. The departure timings of flight no AI 144 from Newark to Mumbai has also been rescheduled to 11 AM on March 22, the airline said. The airline has cancelled its Newark-Ahmedabad flight for the day along with the London-Newark flight on both ways. The airline tweeted that re-booking and cancellation can be done without any penalty.
Bhopal gas tragedy victims to get aid for kidney and liver
The Madhya Pradesh government today announced that it would provide financial assistance to the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and their children who are adviced to undergo liver and kidney transplant in hospitals. "The Cabinet has decided that the government would provide financial assistance to the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy as well as their children for the transplant of liver and kidney in any hospital within or outside the state. "This assistance would be provided on the basis of an estimate that would be prepared by any hospital run by the state or the Union government," Public Relations Minister Narottam Mishra told reporters. While thousands of people died after inhaling the toxic gas leaked from the pesticide plant of the Union Carbide India Limited in the state capital on the intervening night of December 2 and December 3, 1984, more than five lakh people were affected in the world's biggest industrial disaster. Activists claim that many of the ...
VO Chidambaranar Port sets new record in handling thermal coal
The VO Chidambaranar Port Trust has created a new record in handling thermal coal in a single day, an official statement said on Wednesday.
NHAI awards Rs 6,213 cr highway projects in Karnataka
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded Rs 6,212.76 crore contracts to Dilip Buildcon Ltd for widening the Bangalore-Mysore section of NH-275 in Karnataka. The projects include six-laning of 56 km stretch of Bangalore-Nidagatta section on National Highway 275 for Rs 3447.33 crore and 61 km stretch of Nidagatta-Mysore section for Rs 2765.43 crore, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement. "The entire Highway has been designed as a fully Access Controlled facility with provision of service roads on both side in entire length," the statement said, adding that bypasses have been proposed at Bidadi, Ramanagara and Channapatna, Madur, Mandya and Srirangapatna. It said the scope of work included construction of 9 major bridges, 44 minor bridges and 4 railway overbridges. The concession period is 17.5 yrs including construction period of 2.5 years. "Keeping in view of the road safety of the road users at all the major intersections have been provided
Sunil Gavaskar meets Fadnavis on road safety, no honking drive
A cricket match will be held at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on March 24to create awareness about road safety, MaharashtraTransport Minister Diwakar Raote said here today. Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Ajinkya Rahane, Vinay Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and some members of the World Cup winning Under-19 team will be seen in action in the match, to be played between teams called the "No Horn OK Please" and "Road Safety". "Every year, over 1.5 lakh vehicles meet with accidents," the minister said. "Gavaskar has associated himself with the road safety campaign to help stop this," he added. Gavaskar said the cricket match will helpcreate awareness about road safety. Gavaskar visited the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai, where the budget session of the state legislature is underway and met Fadnavis and Raote. "To promote no honking and road safety, transport department is undertaking an awareness campaign," Fadnavis tweeted after the meeting.
Nepal plane crash: Probe team criticised for delay in filing report
The government commission formed to investigate the March 12 incident of US-Bangla plane crash has come under fire for not giving an official statement even after one week since the incident has taken place."The commission, which even managed to avoid a press conference about its schedule of actions earlier, is unknowingly powering rumour mills in Nepal and abroad with its inexplicable silence till date," the Himalayan Times quoted an aviation expert as saying.The commission is doing nothing in this regard while a quick trip to the black box decoding facility to Singapore or even New Delhi along with a Bengali speaking aviator could have ended the intrigue surrounding the crash, he added.Last Monday, 49 people were killed after the plane evaded the runway at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport and crashed into a fence on the ground and burst into flames.The plane, which was en route to Kathmandu from Dhaka, had 33 Nepali, 32 Bangladeshi and one passenger each from China and ...
CIL to set up plants for coal gasification: Goyal
To promote environment-friendly uses of coal, Coal India is planning to set up plants for coal gasification, Parliament was informed today. To promote cleaner and alternate use of coal, CIL is pursuing initiatives for setting up plants for gasification of coal and its further processing into downstream chemicals, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. "In this direction, CIL has formed a JV company along with RCF, GAIL and FCIL, namely; Talcher Fertilizers Ltd to set up a coal based Ammonia-Urea plant at Talcher, Odisha, through surface coal gasification route," Goyal said. He said the government has already taken several initiatives to improve the efficiency of coal based power plants and to reduce carbon footprint. All new, large coal-based generating stations have been mandated to use the highly efficient supercritical technology, he said.
Chinese dredger capsizes off Malaysia; 1 dead, 14 missing
A Chinese sand-dredger capsized off Malaysia's southern coast today, killing a crew member and leaving 14 others missing, Malaysia's coast guard said. Three Chinese citizens out of 18 crew members were rescued but one was found dead after the JBB Rong Chang 8 capsized off southern Johor state, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said in a statement. Two vessels were deployed to search for 14 others who were missing, comprising 12 Chinese, one Indonesian and one Malaysian, the statement said. It didn't provide details on what caused the vessel to overturn.
Pickup truck falls into ravine in Pak, 5 killed, 13 injured
Five people were killed and 13 others injured when a pickup truck veered off the road and plunged into a ravine in the mountainous region of north west Pakistan, police said today. The accident occurred yesterday at Sharono Hill in Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when driver lost control over the vehicle which fell into the ravine, they said. Police pulled out the bodies and injured with the help of local people. The injured were rushed to a hospital in Alpuri, while some of them, in critical condition, were taken to a hospital in Swat, the police said.
11 mines allotted to Coal India to add 225 MT in annual output
Allocation of 11 mines to Coal India (CIL) arms - ECL, WCL and BCCL - will enhance its annual output by 225 million tonnes (MT), Parliament was informed today. CIL has requested the government for allotment of additional coal mines to Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) and Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) to make these subsidiaries 100 MT-plus as these arms do not have adequate coal reserves at present, Coal and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal told Lok Sabha in a written reply. Considering the request of CIL, 11 coal mines have been allocated to CIL under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, and the MMDR Act, 1957, Goyal said. "Addition of these 11 coal mines will add about 225 MT of coal in its annual production capacity," the minister said. Five of these mines are in Jharkhand, of which three have been allotted to ECL and two to BCCL. Of the remaining six mines, four are in Odisha and have been allotted to WCL, while the two in Bihar ..
Price realisation of coal by CIL via FSA dips 3.4% in Q3
Average price realisation of coal sold by CIL through fuel supply pacts fell 3.4 per cent to Rs 1,182 per tonne in October-December in comparison to the previous quarter, Parliament was informed today. "Average price realisation of coal sold by CIL(Coal India)through Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) for the quarters ended December 31, 2017 and September 30, 2017 is Rs 1,182 per tonne and Rs 1,224 per tonne, respectively," Minister of Coal Piyush Goyal told Lok Sabha in a written reply. Goyal said CIL's production target for 2017-18 has been fixed at 600 million tonne (MT) and the PSU has produced 383.93 MT coal in April-December. "Owing to less demand of coal from January-July 2017, which resulted in accumulation of coal stock in the pithead of CIL, the production was restricted in the early part of 2017-18," he said.
Lightning kills four in UP
Four persons were killed and three others injured in separate incidents of lightning strikes in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district on Wednesday, police said.
25 killed in Kabul bombing
At least 25 people were killed and 18 injured in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan's capital on Wednesday as people were celebrating Nawroz or New Year in the country, authorities said.
One dead, 14 missing in Malaysia sand dredger capsize
One crew member was killed and 14 others, most of them Chinese, were missing today after a sand-dredging vessel capsized off Malaysia, with some believed trapped alive inside the sunken hull. The coastguard said authorities in the southern state of Johor were alerted at 8:50 am that the vessel, the JBB Rong Chang 8, had sank. Two boats were sent to the scene and found one Chinese national dead and three others alive, the coastguard said. A search is continuing for the 14 sailors --12 Chinese, one Indonesian and one Malaysian -- still missing, said a coastguard statement. Sanifah Yusof, a senior coastguard official, told AFP that divers searching for the missing crew believed some could still be alive inside the overturned boat. "We believe there are some crew trapped in the ship. The divers knocked on the body of the ship and got a response," he told AFP. It was not clear what caused the accident in Muar district. The weather in the area was fine. Dredging sand from coastal areas is a
19 dead as bus plunges off Philippine cliff
Nineteen people were killed and 21 others injured when a bus veered off the road and plunged down a ravine in the central Philippines, police said today. The bus was heading to the capital Manila when it crashed through the railing of a bridge on Mindoro island late last night, said regional police spokeswoman Imelda Tolentino. "The survivors said the driver lost control of the vehicle and that is why it fell," she told AFP. "Police are investigating why the driver lost control -- whether there was mechanical trouble or the driver fell asleep," she said. The bus driver was among the deceased, she added. Police photos showed rescue workers clambering down the cliff to reach the bus, which lay on its side amongst trees and grass about 15 metres below the road. The accident occurred near Sablayan town, which is about 195 kilometres south of Manila. Road accidents are common in the Philippines, where inadequately maintained buses and poorly trained drivers form the backbone of land ...
19 die in Philippines bus crash
Nineteen persons were killed in southern Philippines when a bus ran off a highway and plunged into a ravine. At least 25 others have been injured in the incident, authorities said.