Floods may worsen in AP, eases in Odisha; 49 dead

October 27, 2013
AP_FloodsHyderabad/Bhubaneswar, Oct 27: Thirty-two people dead, 15,000 houses collapsed across 4,000 villages, 72,000 people evacuated and crops over 564,000 hectares destroyed – the floods in Andhra Pradesh are getting worse by the hour. And the deluge can only get worse, with more rains expected in the next 48 hours.

The situation is somewhat better in Odisha. But though flood waters are receding, seven more persons died on Saturday, taking the toll to 17. The fifth India-Australia one-dayer in Cuttack was washed out.

And in neighbouring West Bengal, torrential rains flooded streets, uprooted trees and sent houses crashing that took two lives.

For now, the Andhra Pradesh government appears ill prepared to handle the rain fury, which has been continuing for the last five days. Though the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been pressed into service and chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has asked officials to take up rescue and relief measures on a war footing, the going is slow at best.

Of the 16 affected districts, the NDRF has been active in the worst-hit Srikakulam, West Godavari, Prakasam, Guntur, Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar districts. In the rest, the state machinery is at work.

Besides the river Vamsadhara, which was in spate by Friday,the river Krishna is about to overflow as well. To control the situation, 315,000 cusecs of water has already been discharged into the Bay of Bengal from Vijayawada’s Prakasam Barrage.

But that has not helped much. Road and rail routes have been badly hit – huge stretches of train tracks are under water, so are parts of the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway. Overall, 935 km of roads have been damaged.

The government’s other headache is the damage to irrigation tanks. The state has the largest number of minor irrigation tanks, which cater to 1.8 million hectors of drought-prone and dry areas which have no other methods of irrigation.

“Altogether, 405 minor irrigation tanks have been damaged and breaches have occurred to canals in different districts,” said disaster management commissioner T Radha. The chief minister has already asked officials to accord top priority to repair and restoration of these tanks.

Jharkhand feels the heat

Floods in Odisha threatened to inundate the low-lying areas of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, while floodwater rushed into a dozen villages in Ichagarh block of Seraikela-Kharsawan district, after all 13 gates of Chadil Dam were opened with the water level at 181.70 metres, crossing the previous highest level of 181.60 metres.

Water levels in Kharkai and Subarnarekha rivers are also rising due to the incessant rain in Odisha, resulting in the opening of one gate of Byanbil Dam in Mayurbhanj district.

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Floods may worsen in AP, eases in Odisha; 49 dead

Hyderabad/Bhubaneswar, Oct 27: Thirty-two people dead, 15,000 houses collapsed across 4,000 villages, 72,000 people evacuated and crops over 564,000 hectares destroyed – the floods in Andhra Pradesh are getting worse by the hour. And the deluge can only get worse, with more rains expected in the next 48 hours.

The situation is somewhat better in Odisha. But though flood waters are receding, seven more persons died on Saturday, taking the toll to 17. The fifth India-Australia one-dayer in Cuttack was washed out.

And in neighbouring West Bengal, torrential rains flooded streets, uprooted trees and sent houses crashing that took two lives.

For now, the Andhra Pradesh government appears ill prepared to handle the rain fury, which has been continuing for the last five days. Though the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been pressed into service and chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has asked officials to take up rescue and relief measures on a war footing, the going is slow at best.

Of the 16 affected districts, the NDRF has been active in the worst-hit Srikakulam, West Godavari, Prakasam, Guntur, Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar districts. In the rest, the state machinery is at work.

Besides the river Vamsadhara, which was in spate by Friday,the river Krishna is about to overflow as well. To control the situation, 315,000 cusecs of water has already been discharged into the Bay of Bengal from Vijayawada’s Prakasam Barrage.

But that has not helped much. Road and rail routes have been badly hit – huge stretches of train tracks are under water, so are parts of the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway. Overall, 935 km of roads have been damaged.

The government’s other headache is the damage to irrigation tanks. The state has the largest number of minor irrigation tanks, which cater to 1.8 million hectors of drought-prone and dry areas which have no other methods of irrigation.

“Altogether, 405 minor irrigation tanks have been damaged and breaches have occurred to canals in different districts,” said disaster management commissioner T Radha. The chief minister has already asked officials to accord top priority to repair and restoration of these tanks.

Jharkhand feels the heat

Floods in Odisha threatened to inundate the low-lying areas of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, while floodwater rushed into a dozen villages in Ichagarh block of Seraikela-Kharsawan district, after all 13 gates of Chadil Dam were opened with the water level at 181.70 metres, crossing the previous highest level of 181.60 metres.

Water levels in Kharkai and Subarnarekha rivers are also rising due to the incessant rain in Odisha, resulting in the opening of one gate of Byanbil Dam in Mayurbhanj district.

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News Network
July 21,2020

New Delhi, Jul 21: The Enforcement Directorate is understood to have initiated a process to freeze over 60 bank accounts in the country on the request of the Brazilian government in connection with a money laundering case in that country, offiicials said on Monday.

They said the agency has undertaken the action under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in pursuance of a mutual agreement between the two nations to combat financial crimes.

The over 60 bank accounts are held by some individuals and businessmen based in the country, they said.

The probe, they said, is linked to some high profile people of Brazil.

The suspected accounts sought to be frozen by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), on behalf of the Brazilian government, are stated to be of banks in Delhi and Mumbai, they added.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Mumbai, Apr 20: At least 53 media persons from Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus, a city civic official said on Monday.

During a special camp organised at the Azad Maidan here on April 16 and 17 for COVID-19 testing of scribes, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) collected swab samples of 171 mediapersons, including electronic and print media journalists, photographers and cameramen.

“Out of the 171 mediapersons, 53 tested positive for coronavirus,” BMC spokesperson Vijay Khabale said, adding that most of those who tested positive are asymptomatic at present.

All the mediapersons found infected with coronavirus will be kept in isolation and a process was underway to find out suitable places to the purpose, he said.

Efforts were also on to trace their high and low risk contacts.

Till Sunday, Mumbai recorded 2,724 coronavirus cases and 132 deaths due to the disease.

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News Network
June 27,2020

New Delhi, Jun 27: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday called an emergency meeting here to discuss the situation following a locust attack in neighbouring Gurugram.

The minister also directed the administration to be alert, an official said.

"After the emergency meeting, an advisory will be issued on steps to be taken to deal with the situation," Rai told PTI.

He asked the officials of the Agriculture department to make field visits to areas close to Gurugram.

The development secretary, divisional commissioner, director, Agriculture department, and the district magistrates of South Delhi and West Delhi will attend the meeting, the official said.

Earlier in the day, the skies over many parts of Gurugram turned dark as swarms of locusts descended on the town.

However, the migratory pests are likely to spare the national capital for now, officials said.

The swarms of locusts, spread across two kilometres, moved from west to east. They entered Gurugram around 11.30 am, K L Gurjar of the Locust Warning Organisation, Ministry of Agriculture, told PTI.

The pests, he said, were headed towards Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana.

Alarmed at the invasion of the locusts, which settled on trees, rooftops and plants, many residents of Gurugram shared videos from their high-rise perches.

In May, India battled a devastating desert locust outbreak. The crop-destroying swarms first attacked Rajasthan and then spread to Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

According to experts, broadly four species of locusts are found in India – desert locust, migratory locust, Bombay locust and tree locust. The desert locust is considered the most destructive.

It multiplies very rapidly and is capable of covering 150 kilometers in a day.

This insect, a type of a grasshopper, can eat more than its body weight. A one square kilometer of locust swarm containing around 40 million locusts can in a day eat as much food as 35,000 people.

Experts blame the growing menace of desert locusts on climate change. They say breeding of locusts is directly related to soil moisture and food availability.

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