NEWS OF THE MOMENT :

Cattle truck overturns, Cows stolen by locals !!!
Howrah, 14 February : Instances of locals and passersby looting goods from overturned trucks are quite common, but this one takes the cake. A truck, loaded with cows, overturned while approaching second Hooghly bridge, killing eight of the 25 animals on Friday morning. The rest, which survived the accident, were frisked away by locals who pounced on the hapless creatures and disappeared with them before police could arrive. It took police and locals nearly three hours to remove the dead cows from the accident site, leading to a major traffic snarl.
The consignment was on its way from Goruhata in Uluberia to Metiabruz. The animals had been sold at the state's largest cow market by Sheikh Suleiman, a dealer.
Animal rights activists called for stringent action against the seller and the buyer of the cows! Both flouted the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, since it is illegal to load 25 cows in a single truck, they pointed out !!!

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Tripura demands Rs 24,000 cr from 13th Finance Commission
Agartala, 14 February : Tripura government has demanded Rs 24,000 crore from 13th Finance Commission for devolution of finances during 2010 to 2015 and urged to increase central tax share up to 50 per cent for Northeastern States.
State Finance Minister Badal Choudhury has asked the Commission to sanction Rs 24,000 crore to meet its non-plan revenue deficit during the next plan period, including payment of employee's salary as per the 6th Pay Commission's recommendations, official sources said here today.
The Commission members yesterday held a meeting with the State Cabinet led by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. State government had submitted a memorandum stating that the State had a huge resource gap in non-plan activity segment due to which it had not been able to transfer its liabilities from plan to non-plan segment.

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Six south-bound trains cancelled from Howrah

Howrah, 14 February : Six express trains bound for different destinations in the south from Howrah were cancelled for Saturday owing to the derailment of Coromandel Express at Jajpur in Orissa.
The 2841 Up Coromandel Express, 2703 Up Falaknama Express, 2863 Up Yashwantpur Express, 8645 Up East Coast Express, 8409 Up Jagannath Express and 2821 Up Dhauli Express were cancelled in view of the disruption caused by the accident, South Eastern Railway sources said. Some more trains bound for the southern states and Orissa from Howrah and other places might be cancelled or rerouted, the sources said.
Meanwhile, two trains arrived at Howrah station with injured passengers of Coromandel Express that left here on Friday and got derailed near Jajpur station in the last evening. The Bhadrak-Howrah Passenger arrived with 32 injured persons while another special train arrived with five persons who decided to come back instead of taking up their onward journey.

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Mysterious disease claims 2 dozen lives in Tripura
Dhalai, 14 February : Health authorities have put Dhalai district in Tripura on high alert after nearly a dozen people died mysteriously in the last fortnight. The state health department has sent a medical team to the affected areas.

The medical officers have reported that the disease was marked by a sudden onset of fever. "When we went for field visit we found that people died within 10 to 24 hours after experiencing high fever and some red spots on their bodies," said Paul N Darlong, a medical officer. The epidemic is affecting the people living in impoverished tribal hamlets with scant health facilities.
At least 70 more people are suffering from a similar disease in Longhthorai Valley, an inaccessible area dominated by tribal people, which is some 90 km away from the state capital Agartala. Federal health department has informed that at least 165 people have died of meningocococcal meningitis, a contagious disease, in three of India's northeastern states -Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram in the past one month.