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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Partial improvement in power situation in Kolkata and dists

Kolkata, 10 April : The power situation in the city and in adjoining areas improved marginally with the power deficit likely to be between 100 MW to 150 MW today as compared to about 300 MW yesterday, while that in districts remained dismal.
"Evening loadshedding will continue in the command area, but the deficit will be 100-150 MW. We have not taken any power till 10:00 am from WBSEDCL," CESC official spokesperson said.

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Temperature in Kolkata 41 degrees, heatwave in 10 dists
Heatwave warnings for next24 hours to Kolkata and dists
Power situation in metropolis remained dismal with deficit
Kolkata, 10 April : The maximum temperature climbed to 41 degrees in the metropolis and its neighbourhood today as ten West Bengal districts remained in the grip of a heatwave.
The Regional Meteorological Centre at Alipore said that the heat spell will continue for a few more days and there was no immediate chance of a respite. The temperature here was 40.1 degree C yesterday.
Among the districts, Purulia remained the hottest in the state with mercury hovering at 44 degree Celsius, followed by Bankura at 42 degrees and West Midnapore at 41.5 deg C, Met reports from districts said. The weather office issued heatwave warnings for the next 24 hours to the districts of Nadia, Malda, North and South Dinajpur.
Meanwhile, power situation in the metropolis remained dismal with deficit in the WBSEDCL-served areas in the state hovering between 500 and 600 MW. The state government has asked consumers in urban areas to reduce use of air-conditioners and in rural areas not to use irrigation pumps for five hours to cope with the power deficit.

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No new registration of Rohingya refugees: Bangladesh govt
Dhaka, 10 April : Bangladesh has rejected a UNHCR proposal to register Myanmar nationals living outside designated camps in Cox's Bazar as refugees.
Foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes told journalists on Saturday that the regional coordinator of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees recently suggested that the government should initiate new registration for such Myanmar nationals. "We have categorically informed him (the regional coordinator) that this is not possible," Quayes told reporters at a press briefing at the foreign ministry.

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Purulia accused Kim Davy`s extradition approved by D'mark
AP, Copenhagen, 10 April : Denmark's government has approved a request from India to extradite a Danish national accused of involvement in an arms smuggling case 15 years ago.
Kim Davy alias Niels Holck has admitted he took part in dropping assault rifles, rocket launchers and missiles from a cargo plane onto a field in Purulia district in 1995. Indian police said the cache was meant for Anandamargi, a proutist group. The CBI had secured an Interpol Red Corner Notice against Davy in 2002. India had sent a huge dossier to Denmark in the same year and he was accused of dropping 4.5 tonnes of weapons in Purulia in West Bengal.
While a Briton and a five-man Latvian aircrew were arrested by Indian authorities shortly after, Davy escaped. He was also known as Niels Christian Nielsen. File Photo : Deshakalyan Chowdhury
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Power crisis also grips NorthEast India
Agartala, 10 April : India's northeast has been plagued by a power crisis for a month following a prolonged dry spell and falling water level in rivers and water reservoirs. Soaring temperatures on an average 35 degrees Celsius - have aggravated the living conditions in the mountainous region.
'The water shortage has reduced generation capacities of the six regional hydel power projects to 370 MW from 860 MW,' Tripura Power Corporation engineer Kumaresh Chakraborty, who supervises power distribution in the entire region, told media persons here.
The regional hydel power projects that supply power to the northeastern states are, Khandong (50 MW) and Kopili I and II power projects (225 MW) in Assam, Ranganadi hydro power project (405 MW) in Arunachal Pradesh, Doyang hydro power plant (75 MW) in Nagaland and Loktak hydro power project (105 MW) of Manipur.
Chakraborty said the Tripura government-run Dambur hydro power project (15 MW) had stopped production. The Meghalaya government's 175-MW capacity Umiam hydel project generates on an average 50 to 60 percent of its actual capacity for the respective states.

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Maoists kill Trinamool Congress workers in West Midnapore
PTI, Midnapore, Jhargram, 10 April : Maoists shot dead two Trinamool Congress workers at Bandhghora village near Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, police said today.
The Maoists chopped the limbs of Paban Mahato (38) and Kaushik Dutta (35), a casual worker of electricity department of Manikpara in Jhargram, and fired 11 bullets at them from a close range yesterday, they said. "They were missing since yesterday afternoon when they went to distribute electric bills to households in Rasua village. An inquiry is on," District Magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam told PTI. Police said Maoist posters were recovered from the spot claiming that Dutta and Mahato were police informers.
Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Trinamool Congress leader Sisir Adhikari said Mahato and Dutta were Trinamool workers.

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Thakurgaon BDR mutiny court continues taking depositions
Thakurgaon, 10 April : Special Court-2 of Bangladesh Rifles on Saturday recorded statements of 20 witnesses against 51 BDR men of 20 Rifle Battalion indicted in a mutiny case.
The court, led by BDR Director General Maj Gen Mainul Islam, started taking depositions at 20 Rifle Battalion headquarters in Thakurgaon at about 8:40am(BDST), which continued till afternoon. On Thursday, the court framed charges against 51 accused from 20 Rifle Battalion and also recorded witness accounts of 11. Forty-four of them confessed to their involvement and begged for mercy.
Prosecutor of the case and Commanding Officer of 20 Rifle Battalion Lt Col Mahfuz Alam alleged that the accused soldiers looted arms and ammunition breaking into the armoury of the battalion on 26 February and kept those with them violating discipline of the force.
The trial of the accused BDR mutineers is being held under the Bangladesh Rifles Order, 1972. File Photo

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'Pahela Baishakh' countdown in Bangladesh
Dhaka, 10 April : With Pahela Baishakh (first day of the Bengali year) - the biggest celebration in secular Bengali culture - just days away, one of the hubs of the Baishakhi celebration in Bangladesh, Faculty of Fine Arts, DU, is abuzz with preparations. The Mongol Shobha Jatra brought out by the students and teachers of FFA is one of the major attractions of the Baishakhi celebration in Dhaka.
Students of FFA are racing towards finishing their preparations for another vibrant rally on Pahela Baishakh. FFA students are raising funds for the Shobha Jatra through sale of watercolour paintings, traditional pottery, masks and more. At the FFA premises students can be seen working on the paintings and the pottery -- mainly traditional dolls and well decorated shora, T-shirts and more.
What also draw one's attention are the huge bamboo frames on which students are busy working. They were working on replicas of an elephant, a horse and a kakatua -- which will be among the main attractions of this year's rally.
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