Maharashtra tourism body goes global
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) opened its first international office in Tokyo to lure tourists from Japan and other neighbouring countries, officials said here on Saturday. Maharashtra Cultural Affairs Minister Sanjay Deotale inaugurated the Tokyo office in the presence of MTDC Managing Director Jagdish Patil and other senior officials at the Wakayama Prefecture (state’s) Wakayama Tourism Federation (WTF). The move follows a series of delegation visits by both MTDC and Wakayama Prefecture and a MoU signed last year in Mumbai as part of efforts to strengthen tourism and business opportunities in Maharashtra for Japan. In a reciprocal arrangement, the WTF is expected to open an office in Aurangabad, the gateway to the world renowned Ajanta and Ellora Buddhist caves complexes. Other areas of co-operation between MTDC and WTF include financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency for the Phase-III development of Ajanta-Ellora Caves complexes and an agreement between Ajanta Visitor Centre and Wakayama World Heritage Centre to boost bilateral tourism and conserve these heritage sites. The MTDC will also help set up a statue of Bharat Ratna B.R. Ambedkar at Koyasan which attracts the highest number of tourists. Ambedkar is considered the Father of the Indian Constitution and had converted to Buddhism later in life. Earlier this week, Maharashtra announced the launch of a Buddhist Circuit tour aimed at attracting tourists from many countries of the Far East which have a large number of followers of Buddhism. (IANS)
Two sent to custody for raping two Tanzanian women
New Delhi: Two men arrested for raping two Tanzanian women here were Saturday sent to 14 days’ judicial custody, police said. Kunal Singh, 27, and Satish Singh, 28, residents of Shastri Nagar and R.K. Puram, respectively, were arrested from the house of a common friend in south Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar area after the two women made a call to police at 4.30 p.m. Friday. “Kunal and Satish were produced before a district court which sent them to 14 days’ judicial custody,” a police official said. The women, in their late 20s, told police they were taken to the house and raped by the two men. Police said the men were known to the women, and that an argument on a trivial issue took place following which the women called police. (IANS)
Crocodile kills woman in Sunderbans
Kolkata: A day after a fisherman was grabbed and killed by a tiger, a 40-year-old woman met a similar fate after being attacked by a crocodile in the Sunderbans in West Bengal, officials said. According to forest officials, the incident happened Friday when the woman was dragged into the river by a crocodile while she was fishing on the river bank in Choto Mollakhali, in South 24 Parganas district. The mauled body of the woman was later recovered by forest officials. Earlier, a Royal Bengal Tiger Thursday killed a 62-year-old man who was fishing for crabs on his boat. (IANS)
Lucknow school gets NGO status from UN
Lucknow: A city-based school chain with over 50,000 students in its various branches has been registered as an official NGO of the UN, the school said on Saturday. Jagdish Gandhi, founder of the City Montessori School, told reporters that the school was registered with the department of public information of the UN as a non-governmental organisation. This special status will give the school the privilege of “participation in various programmes, conferences and seminars organised by the UN and put forth its ideas on world unity and world peace in order to safeguard the future of 2.4 billion children of the world”, he said. CMS was declared the biggest school, as per student population, in the world by the Guinness World Records last year. (IANS)
Train comes to halt after passenger suffers rat bite
Tirunelveli (TN): A Tirunelveli-bound express train had to halt for about half-an-hour at Madurai junction after a 54-year-old passenger was bitten by a rat. Charles, travelling by Chennai-Tirunelveli Nellai Express, woke up from sleep with a scream as he was bitten by the rat on the ear around 4.30 am when the train was nearing Madurai, about 150 km from here, Railway police said. When the train reached Madurai around 5 am, doctors, who had been informed about the incident, gave medical treatment to the passenger, police said. The train left Madurai after half-an-hour. Local Railway Users Association functionary Kesavan said a number of complaints had been lodged with the officials regarding the rat menace in the trains from Tirunelveli and neighbouring Kanyakumari. (PTI)