Maoist Gaur Chakraborty remanded in police custody
Kolkata, 24 June : Arrested CPI (Maoist) spokesperson Gaur Chakraborty was on Wednesday remanded in police custody for 14 days even as another member of the group and his wife were nabbed in Bankura district on charges of waging war against the state.
Chakraborty, who was arrested here last night under Section 20 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act after he was coming out from the studio of a private television channel, was remanded in custody by Acting Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Chiranjibi Bhattacharya. Chakraborty has cases pending against him in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts. SP Vishal Garg said Purnima, wife of Maoist leader Prabir Gorai, was arrested from a house at Khatra, about 25 km from Bankura town yesterday and her husband on 22 June from Kotulpur area.
Purnima was remanded in three days police custody by a court in Bankura during the day, while her husband is already in jail.

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Soaring heat-humidity make life miserable in Tripura

A girl takes precution against the hot weather in Agartala today. Delhiites continued to reel under the scorching summer heat with the day temperature touching 44 degrees. Photo : AFP

Agartala, 24 June : The soaring temperatures coupled with high humidity has thrown life out of gear in Tripura since the past few days even as the weathermen forecast a few spells of rain in next 24 hours in isolated places of the state.

Most of the places in the state, including Agartala, have been experiencing at least two hours of power cuts everyday and there was no fixed time for the loadshedding, which made life miserable. According to report, the temperature hovered well over 35 degrees Celsius, about four degrees above normal yesterday and the humidity recorded about was 92 per cent in the state during last 24 hours.

"We are forced to slash power supply because there is a fall in generation and we decided to go for power cuts as we do not get electricity as per our demand,” said Power Minister Manik Dey, adding the power import for the state had been reduced due to fall in generation of hydro-electric projects in Northeast.

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Amateur Ham radio helps combat Cyclone "Aila"
radioandmusic.com, 24 June : On the 25th of May, a deep depression coiled over Bay of Bengal became Cyclonic formation “Aila” which struck the coastal districts of West Bengal.
The Government of West Bengal sought assistance from Ham volunteers in the region to bridge the communication gap and for backup communications at remote locations. Mr. Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU3JFA and other Local Hams responded immediately by sending their members to North 24 Parganas District and South 24 Parganas District. The information on severity and scale of disaster started to trickle in as the local administration sent these teams on boats to remote areas to access the situation. READ MORE

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Steps taken to strengthen relief supply to Lalgarh : DM N.S Nigam

Lalgarh, 24 June : West Midnapore District Magistrate N S Nigam has taken steps to strengthen relief supply to Lalgarh areas where security forces are on anti-Maoist operation. Steps are taken because of complaints of villagers not getting essential things.
Growing complaints of not receiving essential supplies by people in Lalgarh and surrounding villages where security forces are engaged in anti-Maoist operation, West Midnapore District Magistrate N S Nigam today said steps were being taken to strengthen the relief supply.