Plastic banned in Darjeeling Hills after landslides
Darjeeling, 8 June : Darjeeling Municipality has banned the use of all form of plastic from Monday. This decision has been taken after taking stock of the mass destruction caused by the recent landslides, also largely due to the excessive use of plastic in the Hills.
The civic body has also decided to impose a fine of Rs 500 on the offenders. Garment shops are being targeted as most clothes from the plains come packed in polythene bags. The municipality has also convened a meeting with the Darjeeling chamber of commerce, garment shop owners, tour and travel agencies and hotel owners to apprise them of the ban. Shop owners, violating the order, risk paying a fine or even having their trade licence revoked by the municipality.
"Though most people use plastic to carry food items or clothes, it is the shops owners who are bringing in plastic. We have asked the chamber of commerce to ensure that either it disposes of plastic or be penalised," said Tenzing Khambhachay, member mayor-in-council (conservancy). န Photo : Barun Roy
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Andamans Savarkar Airport gets world-class terminal
Port Blair, 8 June : Veer Savarkar International Airport here will soon have a world class integrated terminal building with best passenger amenities at a cost of Rs 450 crore, Andaman's Raj Niwas sources said.
Officials of Airports Authority of India, New Delhi, recently made a presentation before Andaman and Nicobar Lieutenant Governor Bhopinder Singh at the Raj Niwas here on the new integrated terminal building at Veer Savarkar Airport. The Lieutenant Governor asked the officials to take into consideration the high seismic vulnerability of the area during construction of various structures, the sources said. He also directed the authorities of Coast Guard, A&N Administration and AAI to visit the construction site with technical experts and engineers, assess the ground situation and resolve the bottlenecks so that construction work could be undertaken smoothly.
After getting the green signal from the Lieutenant Governor, work for the integrated terminal building will start on full swing, the sources said.
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Arms and Explosives recovered near Nandigram

Khejuri, 8 June : Police today recovered a huge quantity of explosives from two houses of CPI(M) activists at Khejuri, in East Midnapore district today.
Police said a huge quantity of bomb making matrial, eight pipe guns and some bombs were recovered from the houses of one Madan Das and his neighbour Ajit Das.

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Health situation grim after 'Aila' in Sunderbans delta
Diarrhoea claims six, 75+ are believed to be critical
Kolkata, 8 June : Even as the Sunderbans continues to reel under the twin strikes of Aila and the high tide, six have succumbed to diarrhoea that has now taken on the form of a full-fledged epidemic.
Thousands are suffering from the disease triggered by the consumption of infected water. Hundreds are believed to be critical, but medical aid remains sporadic. A four-member government medical team, one of the few that had managed to reach the flooded region, had to return from Dayapur as there were no medicines or other assistance available. District health officials continued to dither. An epidemic "may have broken out" was all they would say.
Since Sunday evening, the diarrhoea situation has taken a turn for the worse. One person died at Binapani in Dayapur. Early on Monday, four more succumbed to the disease while another death was reported from Adibasipara. Two medical camps have been started at Dayapur where around 19 persons are critical. Nine of them are from Binapani. The camps, though, are ill-equipped and don't have a single doctor at present. "We are relying on paramedics now. We need medical support immediately," said Animesh Sinha, representative of an NGO working in Gosaba. More than 70% of the population is now believed to be suffering from diarrhoea across Gosaba, Kultali, Basanti and Patharpratima. Just 50 bottles of saline have reached Dayapur though 200 bottles have been requisitioned.
NGOs and voluntary organisations have urged the district administration and the BDO offices to stop relying on water pouches alone. န Photos : AFP & Indrajit Dutta
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Tidal surge of Bay of Bengal hits Cox's Bazar today
Cox's Bazar, 8 June : At least 2,000 dwelling houses at 22 villages in Teknaf, Moheshkhali, Kutubdia, Pekua and Sadar upazilas of Cox's Bazar have been inundated by tidal surge of the Bay of Bengal.
Seawater entering through the breaches in the coastal embankments has submerged dwellings of hundreds of people who also face serious crisis of drinking water. Many people have taken refuge at local cyclone shelters and on coastal embankments.
Local met office sources said the sea has become rough under the impact of the depression formed in the Bay of Bengal. Tidal water has risen four to five feet above the normal and is hitting the coasts. Storm may hit the area.

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Radio High to resume broadcast from 15 June
Mumbai, 8 June : Siliguri based Radio High, which went off air at the end of March, is scheduled to resume broadcast from 15 June. The radio station, a broadcasting venture of Syntech Infomatics Pvt Ltd has had to suspend transmission owing to a clutch of persistent issues.
Reasons Radio High managing director Milon Chakrabarty, “We are shifting our studio to a different location, which is why we were off air for some time, but we would recommence our transmission in a fortnight. There was also a dispute about the annual fee structure regarding the land lease amount payable to the government.” READ MORE
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Bangladesh seeks justice for 1971 war crimes, Pakistan says 'Move On'
Dhaka, 8 June : Thirty-eight years after Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan, the two countries are sparring over the "war crimes" committed in 1971, a media report here said on Monday.

Dhaka has set in motion the process of trying the survivors among those who killed unarmed civilians, targeting sympathisers of the freedom struggle and religious minorities. It has sought help from the UN as well as cooperation from Pakistan, where many of the Islamist militia members are believed to be living. However, a senior Pakistani official's remark that Bangladesh should "move on" has elicited an angry response from Dhaka, the New Age newspaper reported Monday.
Masood Khalid, additional secretary for Asia Pacific in Pakistan's foreign office, told visiting Bangladeshi media in Islamabad on Saturday that war crime trials in Bangladesh could "hamper ties" and "cast a shadow" on relations between the two countries. "We should not remain frozen in time but should look forward," said Khalid.

In response, Bangladeshi law minister Shafiq Ahmed said Sunday that Pakistan had no right to comment on "our internal matter". "Each state has the right to try criminals on its own territory. We urge other countries not to interfere with our internal matters. The Bangladesh government will try its own citizens, who committed crimes against humanity in 1971, in this country," he added.
Bangaladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League, which led the independence war, has moved swiftly to try the Bangladeshi perpetrators of war crimes since it came to power in January. It has also demanded an apology for the killing of three million Bangladeshis and rape of 300,000 women by the Pakistani Army during the bloody nine-month war.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told Pakistan High Commissioner Alamgir Bashar Khan Babar on 12 May that his country must resolve the issue of an apology. However, Pakistan does not acknowledge the scale of the killings and rapes. Former President Parvez Musharraf, during his trip to Dhaka in July 2002, only apologised for "developments in 1971". န PhotoS : AP & Nashirul Islam

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Siliguri International trade fair begins from tomorrow
Siliguri, 8 June : The third East Himalayan Expo, an international trade fair, would be held in Siliguri from 9 to 15 June. The International Trade Promotion Organisation, attached to the Union ministry of commerce, would sponsor the fair in conjunction with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce.

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Fishermen capture eleven pirates on Meghna river

Bhola, 8 June : Fishermen captured 11 pirates in the Meghna river early on Monday. The detained pirates were later handed over to the Bhola Sadar Police Station. Fisherman Musa Miah told reporters the pirates attacked their trawlers while they were fishing. "We informed other fishermen around our trawler on the cell phone. When they arrived the pirates jumping into the river. "We managed to catch eleven pirates," Musa said.
Police recovered local-made arms from them, said the pirates had been active on the Meghna river since the outset of the Hilsa-catching season.
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Hooghly Thalassemia centre calls for blood donation

< Blood donetion camp at Sreerampore Holly Home School. More than 60 persons donated blood Today.

Sreerampore, 8 June : The Ramesh Chandra Deb Smrity Raksha Samity of Sreerampore that runs thalassemia care centre and Blood donetion camps for the management of thalassemic children in and around Hooghly district has made an appeal to all to come forward to donate blood.
Thalassemia is a blood disorder which requires regular blood transfusion, hence there is a large requirement of blood to save the lives of thalassemic children, said members of the centre. The regular voluntary blood donation camps by 'Ramesh Chandra Deb Smrity Raksha Samity' would greatly help the thalassemic children registered with the department of paediatrics in various hospitals of our state, said Hooghly CMOH. န News & Photo : Sanjay Bhaduri

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12 killed & 14+ feared dead in Munshiganj bus plunge
UNB, Munshiganj, 8 June : At least 12 people were killed and 14 others feared dead as a bus carrying 53 passengers plunged into a water-filled ditch at Shanbari in Srinagar upazila last night.
Police said a Barguna-bound bus from Chittagong rammed a motorbike killing its two riders on the spot and then fell into the ditch beside Dhaka-Mawa Highway at about 11:45pm(BDST) as the driver lost control over the steering. Shortly after the bus plunge, local people recovered nine bodies and 16 injured passengers from the sunken bus which reportedly went under five-foot water. This morning another body was recovered from the scene. Police apprehended that the death toll in the bus plunge might rise to 25 as some passengers were trapped into the sunken bus.