Cyclone Lehar moves towards Andhra Pradesh, Met warns of extensive damage

November 27, 2013

Cyclone_LeharNew Delhi, Nov 27: The cyclonic storm Lehar in the Bay of Bengal today moved further towards the Andhra Pradesh coast and could cross it tomorrow causing extensive damage, officials said.

The "very severe" cyclonic storm was now centered about 650 km east-southeast of Machillipatnam and 600 km east-southeast of Kakinada in the state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

"The cyclone moved west-northwestward with a speed of 15 kmph during the past six hours," the IMD said.

The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall from Wednesday evening over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam district of Puducherry.

"(The) intensity would gradually increase at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and isolated extremely heavy rainfall over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam district Thursday," the IMD said.

It warned of extensive damage to mud houses and agricultural crops, and disruption of power and communication lines as well as rail and road traffic.

IMD has called for total suspension of fishing operations.

It also called for mobilizing evacuation from coastal areas and judicious regulation of rail and road traffic and asked people in affected areas to remain indoors.

An IMD bulletin said squally winds speed reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph would commence along and off Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts Wednesday evening.

The wind speed would be 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph over Vizianagaram and Prakasham districts of Andhra Pradesh at the time of landfall.

The sea would be rough to very rough from Wednesday evening and become "phenomenal" Thursday.

The IMD said the storm surge with height of about two-three metres above astronomical tide would inundate low lying areas of West and East Godavari, Guntur and Krishna districts of Andhra and Yanam.

Lehar will be the second cyclone to hit Andhra coast. Helen hit the coast near Machilipatnam last week killing six people.

Cyclone Phailin and heavy rains last month claimed 58 lives and damaged crops over 13 lakh hectares.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

The Civil Aviation Ministry announced an initial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the dependents of the deceased in the Kozhikode AIE plane crash, while the Kerala government also announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each.

Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, who visited the mishap spot on Saturday, said that a detailed probe is already on and the pilot and co-pilot were highly experienced.

He also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the injured and Rs. 50,000 each to those who suffered minor injuries. The other normal compensations would be decided in due course.

Puri said that Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe, aged 59, who commandeered the AIE flight, had a flying experience of 10,848 hours, while co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar, aged 32, had a flying experience of 1,723 hours.

"Deepak was one of the most distinguished and experienced pilots. He had a commanding experience of 6,662 hours and was commander of B-737 aircraft for 4,244 hours. He had also operated to Kozhikode international airport 27 times. He joined AIE in 2013 and prior to that he served with the IAF and HAL. He was a figher pilot and a recipient of prestigious sword of honour and a gold medalist," said Puri.

Puri said that even as the flight slipped down to around 35 feet, a major disaster was averted due to timely rescue operations. Local people played an exemplary role and the fire brigade's timely action of cutting the plane body and rescuing the passengers minimised the casualties, he said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said that the local people and all rescue and relief agencies did a well co-ordinated job. The state government would also meet the entire treatment expenses of the injured.

Till Saturday afternoon, the total number of deaths was 18. While 149 were still in hospitals, 23 were discharged.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

New Delhi, Jul 31: With the highest single-day spike of 55,079 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's coronavirus tally breached the 16 lakh mark on Friday, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With this latest spike, the total cases in the country stand at 16,38,871. Among these cases 5,45,318 are active. A total of 10,57,806 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

779 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 35,747.

As per the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra has a total of 1,48,454 active cases and recorded 14,729 deaths due to COVID-19.
Tamil Nadu has a total of 57,962 active cases and 3,838 deaths in the state.

Delhi has a total of 10,743 active cases and 3,936 deaths.

The Indian Council of Medical Research on Friday informed that a total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to 30th July is 1,88,32,970 including 6,42,588 samples tested yesterday.

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News Network
June 17,2020

Jaipur, Jun 17: Police have registered an FIR against a television news anchor for allegedly making an objectionable comment on Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

The FIR was lodged after a complaint against News 18 India anchor Amish Devgan by a "khadim" at the saint's dargah in Ajmer on Tuesday night.

"He is running a communal agenda against the Muslim community. The dargah of Sufi saint is visited not only by Muslims but by people of all religions and his comments have hurt the sentiments of all," Syed Sarwar Chishti said.

The anchor later apologised on Twitter. "In 1 of my debates, I inadvertently referred to 'Khilji' as Chishti. I sincerely apologise for this grave error and the anguish it may hv caused to followers of the Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti, whom I revere. I have in the past sought blessings at his dargah. I regret this error," Devgan tweeted.

Dargah SHO Hem Raj said a case was registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act for outraging religious feelings.

Another complaint was lodged by activist Muzaffar Bharti at the office of Ajmer's Superintendent of Police.

He accused Devgan and his team of trying to incite riots through "misleading and objectionable debates on communal issues".

He said Devgan made highly objectionable remarks on the revered saint, which shall not be tolerated.

"The dargah of Moinuddin Chishti is the symbol of brotherhood and harmony and crores of people of different religions all over the world have deep love and faith in the saint," he said.

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