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Mahesh Bhatt, Meera visit Rajghat

     New Delhi: Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and Pakistani actress Meera visited Rajghat to pay tribute to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi today. "I feel the destination of this march should not be Multan but till the vision of united South Asia is not fulfilled this march should go on. This is just the first step,many such movements have to be intensified," Mahesh Bhatt said while talking about the Indo-Pakistan peace march that was kicked off from Delhi on Wednesday and will end at Multan on May 11. Meera, who was held up at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday for several hours airport for not carrying proper travel documents, beleived that her entry into the capital was made possible only after a "divine intervention" by Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. "This is miracle of Nizamuddin Baba that I finally participated in this peace march and today I am with you. The problems will come and go but the mission should not stop.This system should carry on," said Meera. Tremendous support from both sides of the border can be seen in the peace march organised by citizen groups of India and Pakistan.

'Holi Bonanza', DA hiked by three per cent (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Central government today gifted a 'Holi' gift to Central government employees and pensioners, by deciding to increase the dearness allowance by three per cent. It was decided at the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to increase the allowance from 14 per cent to 17 per cent. The hike comes into retrospective effect from January 1 this year. The pensioners would also get a 3 per cent hike in Dearness Relief (DR) from the same date, said the Information and Broadcasting Minister S.Jaipal Reddy.

Storm kills 13 in West Bengal (Go To Top)

     Kolkata: At least 13 people were killed in Kolkata after a severe nor'wester swept six districts of West Bengal. Apart from killing the 13, it also damaged thousands of houses. It also snapped power and telephone lines, the administration has warned of another similar storm strike. Although the unofficial toll was put at 13, the death toll read just four. The deaths were caused by lightning, wall collapse and falling trees in Jalpaiguri, Murshidabad, Nadia, Bardhaman, North and South 24 Parganas districts. According to the weatherman, the nor'wester accompanied by intermittent showers lashed the six districts since Wednesday and today and warned about the possibility of another storm in the evening. The Chief Minister of the state, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said, "a large number of houses were damaged in a number of districts and a few died and many were injured". He further added that the reports indicated that the storm caused damage in Nadia and Bardhaman districts. The Minister for Relief, H.A.Sairani said that since yesterday nor'esters and rain damaged about 3,000 houses in Nadia, 4,000 in North 24 Parganas and 120 houses in Jalpaiguri districts.

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