Nathpa
Jhakri (HP): The Himachal Pradesh government on Wednesday
temporarily shut the 1500-MW Nathpa Jhakri hydroelectric
project for the second time owing to fears a lake in China
will burst its banks and flood across the border. Over 100
million cubic metres of water had accumulated in the artificial
lake on the river Pareechu, 35 km inside Tibetan territory
by Tuesday afternoon. H.K. Sharma, Director (Civil), Sutlej
Jal Vidyut Nigam, said the threat still looms large on the
Nathpa Jhakri reservoir's dam, as the maximum cumulative
discharge capacity of the five floodgates is about 6000
cusecs. "We have got a satellite image where it shows that
from 6-9th (August,) there is an increase in the area of
about 188 hectares. Due to this now that means it is increasing
and has not started overflowing. So, definitely the threat
is there," Sharma told reporters.
The state had witnessed loss of as many as 100 lives and
unprecedented damage when a 50-feet high wall of water tore
into the river Sutlej valley, in 2000. Sharma added that
due to the increase in lake's size by the hour it threatens
to rip apart the prized project. Thousands of villagers
along the river bank have already been evacuated and army
is also on standby to deal with any eventuality. The reservoir
can handle a maximum depth of 25 metres water at its mouth
and about 16 metres depth of water can be absorbed at the
powerhouse. Sharma said they could still consider operating
the plant, which supplies around a third of the power to
the country's northern grid, in exigiency during peak demand.
"The power supply goes to northern grid like Punjab, Haryana,
Delhi, HP (Himachal Pradesh), Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and
Uttaranchal. There is requirement in peaking time. We had
given peaking durng the evenings. If this thing continues
then after reviewing we might be able to supply power during
morning-evening peaking."
Floods
destroy crops, force textile mills closure in Gujarat (Go
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Surendranagar/Surat:
Incessant rains have damaged standing crops and forced
the closure of textile mills in Gujarat. Farmers say over
70 percent of the sorghum and cotton crops have been destroyed
due to 12 days of continuous rains in Surendranagar and
Viragram districts. Some farmers today said they have faced
losses worth Rs.4, 000 per acre of land. Narendra Dhabi
said the farmers were starving because of no work. "It rained
so much that there is only water everywhere, there is no
work for us. We are starving. There is nothing to eat. We
are going to another place," said Dhabi. "There is water
everywhere. We have to go another village for work and then
feed our children. Authorities came and distributed some
grains. Now, there is nothing," Naran, another villager,
said. According to official figures, over 30 people have
been killed in the last couple of days, taking the death
toll in the monsoon season to 151. Authorities said over
70,000 people have been shifted into relief camps across
the state. "The Surat textile market has suffered huge damages
due to heavy rainfall. Due to continuous rains in the last
three to four days, water has seeped into the basements
of many factories. The market has been badly affected,"
said Devkishen Rangnani, the vice-chairman of the Surat's
Weavers Association. A government survey has assessed the
total industry loss at Rs.40 million.
KGL
continues talks with kidnappers (Go
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Dubai:
The Kuwaiti transport company KGL is continuing backroom
talks to free three Indian hostages and four other truck
drivers in Iraq. More Iraqi contacts have been brought in
to mediate with the kidnappers. KGL has indicated that it
is willing to have the previous mediator Sheikh Dulaimi
back to negotiate. They are even willing to conduct negotiations
if the Sheikh gets authorization from the kidnappers through
a statement on the Al- Arabiya television network. The company
also wants the hostage takers to officially name a mediator.
BEST,
BMC strike hits Mumbai (Go
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Mumbai:
Nearly two lakh BEST and BMC workers went on a three-day
strike from today to protest against a cut in their dearness
allowance (DA). Services in hospitals, garbage disposal,
water supply and crematoriums have been badly affected by
the strike. The city transport services, operated by Brihanmumbai
Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Corporation, were the
worst hit. Of the 3,153 buses scheduled to ply, only 300
buses are operating on various routes with 337 drivers and
476 conductors reporting for duty. There were also reports
of stone pelting on the BEST buses at 17 places. These included
Chakala, Sion, CST, Chembur, Prateekshanagar, Vaishalinagar,
Seepz village and Borivali, in which a driver received minor
injuries. BMC Commissioner Johny Joseph has said that action
will be taken against those employees who had gone on strike,
as per Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act. The
civic staff action followed failure of talks between the
Sharad Rao-led union and the administration over demands
relating to pay and dearness allowance. The employees are
unhappy with the recommendation that workers be given a
DA of 100 per cent of their basic salary instead of 129
per cent they are currently getting. Due to this, workers
have resorted to three-day mass casual leave since Tuesday
midnight. The strike has been called by NCP led trade unions.
And the move is aimed to pressurize the government before
the model code of conduct comes into place ahead of the
assembly elections.
Tis
Hazari lawyers defy Supreme Court order (Go
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New
Delhi: Amidst high drama today lawyers working at the
Tis Hazari courts were detained over their protest against
the proposed shifting of the courts to Rohini. The lawyers
were whisked away in police vans after they locked up some
of the gates of the huge complex. However, the Chief Justice
of the Delhi High Court, B C Patel informed that a decision
was yet to be taken on the issue. In a letter to Delhi High
Court Bar Association President Amarjit Singh Chandihok,
the Registrar General V B Gupta on behalf of the Chief Justice
said a decision has not yet been taken on shifting the courts
from Tis Hazari to a complex coming up in Rohini. Security
was tight around the court complex to maintain law and order.
It was the first time in 12 years that the court gates were
locked up by agitating lawyers, the last being in 1992 to
protest the shifting of courts from Tis Hazari to Karkardooma.
Chennai
lawyer to defend Saddam Hussain (Go
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Chennai:
It could be a first for India as far as the war in Iraq
is concerned. Chennai-based lawyer P V Bakthavatchalam has
reportedly accepted an offer to defend former Iraqi President
Saddam Hussain during his trial before a special tribunal
trying him for alleged war crimes and genocide committed
over the last three decades. Bakthavatchalam, 68, is a human
rights advocate and a member of the Amnesty International
since 1976. He told reporters here that the Kolkata unit
of the Amnesty International had approached him to fight
Saddam's case. "I have only given my consent. I expressed
my willingness to join this panel through my daughter -
advocate Ajitha, who had recently attended a human rights
convention in France", he said.
Bengal
petro strike off (Go
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Kolkata:
The West Bengal Dealers Association today called off
the no-sale, no-purchase strike, after getting a written
assurance from the state transport minister Subhash Chakraborty
that its grievances would be addressed. The association
went on strike over a demand to reduce the sales tax imposed
by West Bengal government. After the minister's announcement,
all 2200 petrol pumps across the state started selling and
purchasing petrol. Joydeb Sarkar, the general secretary
of the association, told reporters that petrol pump dealers
were satisfied with the minister's assurances. "Charaborty
has given us in written that the sales tax will be reduced.
His committee will tell the central minister to correct
their demand," said Joydeb.
Govt
ready to withdraw Assam Rifles from Manipur (Go
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New
Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has announced that the
Manmohan Singh led UPA government was "open" to withdraw
the Assam Rifles from Manipur, however, it would not do
so in a manner that would in any way "demoralise" the forces.
"The Assam Rifles has carried out its duties properly in
the state. But if the people of Manipur have a problem with
the force, we can move the troops from there. However, it
is not something which can be done today or tomorrow," Union
Home Minister Shivraj Patil was quoted as saying. The Minister
also refuted any differences that allegedly rose out of
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's utterances that the
Assam Rifles Rifles cannot be moved out of Manipur.
UK
approves human cloning for medical research (Go
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London:
Britain today approved for the first time the use of
human cloning for medical research, granting permission
to university scientists to clone embryos, the government's
fertilization authority said. The Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Authority granted the license to experts at the
University of Newcastle. They are investigating new treatments
for conditions including diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's
disease. The controversial decision could open a new era
of research by scientists looking for remedies for diseases.
See how the procedure works This is an important area of
research and a responsible use of technology, said Suzi
Leather, chairperson of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority Leather said an initial one year research license
had been granted after "careful consideration of all the
scientific, ethical, legal and medical aspects of the project.This
is an important area of research and a responsible use of
technology." "The HFEA is there to make sure any research
involving human embryos is scrutinized and properly regulated,"
she added.
The research will take place at the International Centre
for Life in Newcastle, involving experts from the Institute
of Human Genetics at Newcastle University, and the Newcastle
Fertility Centre. Scientists, however, have warned that
it will be at least five years - if not more - before patients
could receive stem cell treatments based on their work.
Even though the science is similar, the technique is different
to reproductive cloning, which aims to create a human being.
Therapeutic cloning has been legal in Britain since 2002.
The cloning technique, known as cell nuclear replacement
(CNR) involves removing the nucleus of a human egg cell
and replacing it with the nucleus from a human body cell,
such as a skin cell.
Pak
party wants Muslim majority states in India to merge with
Pak (Go
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Lahore: The Jamaat-ud-Daawa's head
for political affairs, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, has announced
that Pakistan would become a complete state only when the
Muslim majority states of India become a part of it. Reiterating
that Kashmir was an integral part of Pakistan and that the
"Mujahideen" were fighting for its liberation, he added
that the Muslim majority states of Hyderabad, Manawarad
and Junagarh in India should also be taken into consideration.
"These are also the parts of Pakistan. They were occupied
by India after partition," the Daily Times quoted him as
saying. He also sought a ban on the joint cultural shows
performed by artists from India and Pakistan.
Hard
to reach accord by 2005: ex-WTO chief (Go
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Kuala
Lumpur: Former World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief
Mike Moore today described the revival of global free-trade
talks as a "limp forward" and warned it may be tough to
reach an agreement at the WTO conference in Hong Kong next
year. But Moore, who is also a former New Zealand prime
minister, said there was an urgent need to accelerate negotiations
on setting world trade rules that would stabilise the global
economy and ensure poor nations were not left out of the
race. "We are a year behind, but it has progressed. The
system limps forward. Hopefully we can conclude next year
in Hong Kong but it's going to be very hard because the
issues are too big," he told reporters on the sidelines
of an Asian economic conference here. A deal reached in
Geneva earlier this month on the contentious subject of
agriculture sets the stage for an overall agreement to conclude
the Doha Round of global trade rules that would expand multilateral
trade liberalisation. Moore said a WTO agreement would "give
Africa up to five times more income than all the overseas
development assistance put together." "The stakes are enormous.
The World Bank suggests that if we do the whole deal, it's
worth about three trillion in terms of added growth to the
world economy, just like putting another China into the
world economy and we need this," he said.
Ford
launches new range Ikons in India (Go
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Bangalore:
American auto major Ford has unveiled a new range of
its B-segment Ikon cars in India. Ford India executives
today said that they planned to expand its number of dealers
from the 90 to 105 spread across 86 cities by the end of
the year. In 2004, the company registered 48 percent increase
in sales in the first seven months and recruited over seven
hundred new employees for its full-scale manufacturing unit
in Chennai. Ford India also exports Ikons to South Africa
and Latin America and components to China. Ford India, which
entered India in 1996, now makes only the mid- sized Ikon
in two versions at its car plant. The Ikon is positioned
in India's C-segment.
