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Saturday, May 22, 2010

West Bengal's Haripur nuclear power plant buffer zone reduced

Kolkata, 22 May : The Department of Atomic Energy, which is to set up a 10,000 MW light water nuclear power plant at Haripur in West Bengal's East Midnapore district, has decided to reduce its buffer zone.
"We have decided to reduce the exclusion zone (buffer zone) from 1.6 km to 1 km at Haripur with new technologies in place," DAE Secretary Srikumar Banerjee said today. The department will require a seafront of three km diametre and the buffer zone from the reactor will be 1 km where there will be limited activity, Banerjee said at a function where he received the Rammohan Puraskar 2010 on the occasion of the 238th birth anniversary of Raja Rammohan Roy.
He, however, said though Haripur has been selected, the exact area of the project has not yet been decided upon. Currently, the baseline study was been carried out.

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2 train passengers injured in firing by Maoists at Banstala
Jhargram, 22 May : Two persons, including a policeman, travelling on board the Tatanagar-bound Steel Express, were injured in a crossfire between Maoists and joint forces at Banstala station in West Midnapore district today.
Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma said an anti-Maoist operation was underway when bullets fired by Maoists hit a compartment of the train, injuring two. The injured were admitted to the Jhargram Sub-Divisional Hospital. Passengers of the train demonstrated when it reached the Jhargram station.

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GJM youth leader mastermind of Tamang killing : Police
PTI, Siliguri, 22 May : Forty-five people have been arrested in connection with the killing of All India Gorkha League President Madan Tamang even as a search is on to trace a Gorkha Janamukti Morcha youth leader, who is the alleged mastermind of the murder, police said today
"Dinesh Gurung, President of GJM yuba morcha town committee is the key planner of the killing of Tamang in Darjeeling yesterday," Inspector General of Police (north bengal), K L Tamta said. Police is trying to trace Gurung and a few of his associates, he said. Besides, police patrolling had been intensified to restore confidence among the hill people, Tamta said.
Tamang was yesterday stabbed to death by unidentified men during clashes by rival Gorkha groups in the hill town of Darjeeling. Photo : AFP

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1000MW more electricity to added to Natl grid by yearend
Dhaka, 22 May : Bangladesh Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has announced that another 1000MW of electricity would be added to the national grid by the yearend.
She made the announcement at the inauguration of Texbangla Fair at Sheraton Hotel organised by Bangladesh Textile Mills Association on Saturday. "Our government has put top priority on the power sector". She blamed the previous governments for the present power crisis. "We have not created the problem. "If our projects were implemented then power production would have reached 6,000 MW in 2009," she claimed.

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Capital dredging to be carried out in all Bangladesh rivers
BSS, Dhaka, 22 May : Capital dredging will be carried out soon in all rivers of Bangladesh to revive the lost waterways by returning navigability.
Many major and small rivers and tributaries are facing serious navigability problem as all the rivers got silted and there was no dredging to maintain navigability. Chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Md Abdul Malek Mia said this while talking to BSS. The country had 24,000 km long waterways in the past, but silting of river-beds hampered navigability of the water ways. At present, the country has 5,968 km navigable waterways during the monsoon while 3,865 km during dry season.
To maintain the navigability of the rivers, a massive dredging of the rivers is required on yearly basis, Abdul Malek said adding that but due to paucity of funds and shortage of dredger BIWTA could not meet the dredging requirement in all routes.

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Meghalaya is transit zone for narcotics : Narcotics Control
Shillong, 22 May : Meghalaya has emerged as a major "transit route" for narcotics mainly originating from the north-eastern states of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said today.
"Though consumption (of narcotics) is comparably very low in Meghalaya, the state is a major transit zone for drugs and movements are made through roads to the demand areas in West Bengal, Guwahati and Bangladesh," NCB director general O P S Malik told told reporters here.
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154Bru refugee families taken back to Mizoram from Tripura
Agartala, 22 May : Following sustained pressure from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) the Mizoram government took back 154 families of Bru refugees yesterday.
The refugees had fled from Western Mizoram in November. Initially, the repatriation was postponed by a week owing to bad weather and some administrative difficulties in Mizoram but the latter arranged conveyance for 154 of the 564 families and the first batch went back yesterday.
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Tripura govt hosts a craft fair to promote Inter-state trade
Agartala, 22 May : Entrepreneurs from most parts of India now want to tap the business potential of Tripura as there is now a view that insurgency is on its last legs.
Entrepreneurs from Manipur, Assam, West Bengal, Delhi and Haryana recently gathered for a 15 day-long handloom fair in Agartalas's Children Park. They were not only able to do good business, but also establish links with businessmen from the region. "A fair means a place where people get together. Moreover, we get products of different states at very reasonable prices. We have met many people here and done some shopping at the exhibition," said Bani Dutta, a customer from West Bengal.
"This fair has been organized to give a boost to the handloom and handicraft sector. This place has become a hub for selling a variety of handmade products from different states. A customer has a choice of products at very reasonable prices," added Sudarsan Mandal, an organizer from Kolkata. Sponsored by the Union Textiles Ministry and organized by the Manipur Handlooms, the fair has been organized to boost inter-state trade.

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