Maha govt gears up to detect Ebola-infected air passengers
Mumbai: Maharashtra government has deployed ambulances available with the state emergency medical service at the city’s international airport to shift suspected Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) passengers. Two ambulances of Maharashtra State Emergency Medical Service (MEMS 108) have been stationed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here following directives from the Centre’s International Health Division of the Directorate General of Health Services to the Airport Health Officer (APHO) for necessary vigilance at all international entry points, officials in the state Health Department said. The Centre has asked the international health division to collect information with help of APHO of the concerned airport about the list of suspected passengers if any and their relevant details like address and contact numbers. Ten beds have been reserved in each of the medical college hospitals of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. (PTI)
‘Bihar to be declared drought-hit soon’
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi Saturday said the state government was ready to declare the state drought-hit as it has become a stark reality. “If there is no rainfall in the next two or three days, the government will declare the state drought-hit any time after Aug 15,” Manjhi told the media here. Manjhi said that weather experts and agriculture scientists had advised the government to wait till next week for rainfall before declaring the state drought-hit. A.K. Sen, director of the Patna office of the Indian Meteorological Department, said 60 percent of the districts in the state were facing 40 to 60 percent deficit in rainfall. An overall 29 percent deficit in rainfall till date has affected paddy sowing and plantation in the state. If Bihar is declared drought-hit this year, it would be the fourth drought in the past five years. Last year, the state government declared 33 of the 38 districts drought-hit due to a rainfall shortage of nearly 25 percent. Bihar had earlier faced droughts in 2010 and 2009 and a bad monsoon in 2012. (IANS)
Steps needed to make agriculture a profitable sector: Naidu
Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said the state government would take all steps to improve living conditions of farmers by making the agriculture sector profitable. While interacting with farmers at Tummapala and Gandavaram villages under Anakapalle region during his visit to Vizag, he said that he would strive hard to improve living conditions of the farmers in the state. He said that all government schemes would be linked to mobile phones of beneficiaries of various schemes so they could get their money through a technique which would be as simple as recharging talk time of their phones. “I will bring technology to farmers and poor students. Technology will revolutionise farming in the state, which will benefit the farmers. My only aim is to make farming profitable,” he said. Later, at a public meeting, Naidu launched an initiative where local officials and people’s representatives including the area’s MLA would tour two villages on Tuesday and Wednesday in a week and explain the latest trends of farming and other schemes to farmers to improve farm productivity. Naidu said that he himself would tour all 13 districts of the state before the kharif season ended. (PTI)
16 TPC ultras shot dead
Daltonganj: In an inter-group rivalry between two maoists factions, 16 ultras belonging to the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) were gunned down by the CPI(Maoists) near Chotki Kaudiya on the Vishrampur-Pandu main road under Vishrampur Police Station area of the Palamu district. Police sources said that the fierce gun-battle occured late last night when the CPI(Maoist) attacked on a house where the TPC ultras had taken shelter. Sources claimed that TPC ultras numbering between 20-22 were staying in the house of one Ramchandra Sao. Late last night armed squad of CPI (Maoists) attacked on the house and took away four ultras of TPC including a 13 year old child in a near by field and shot them dead. Than after the utras entered into the house and opened indiscriminate fire over the TPC ultras sleeping inside the house. ’12 among the TPC ultras died in the incident while two others managed to flee from the spot,’ sources said. After killing the TPC ultras, the maoists looted the arms and ammunition’s. However TPC’s self styled area commander Rajesh Sao who was sleeping in another room in the same house managed to escape. They also manhandled two youths who were not in uniform in the house. Sources claimed that the TPC ultras managed to take away the bodies of their men deep in the forest. (UNI)
30-yr-old man held for cheating women using matrimonial sites
New Delhi: A 30-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly duping several women of lakhs of rupees after befriending them on matrimonial websites. Varun Pal, a resident of Krishna Nagar in east Delhi, was arrested on August 7, 2014, from north Delhi’s Rohini on the basis of a complaint filed by a divorcee who alleged that he had duped her and taken Rs 6 lakh on the pretext of marrying her, police said. According to police, it was in a television programme that Pal had come across the idea of cheating girls by creating fake profiles on matrimonial websites. The accused created fake profiles on several matrimonial sites, including Jeevansathi.com, Bharatmatrimony.com and Shaadi.com, and targeted divorced women, police said. “Using these fake profiles, he used to establish links with various girls. He mostly targeted divorced women,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW), SD Mishra. Pal did not even use his real photograph and instead put up pictures of someone else on these profiles, police said. (PTI)
Family seek release of kin from Kuwaiti jail
Kozhikode: The family of three Keralites, languishing in a Kuwaiti jail for alleged murder of a Filipino, on Saturday sought the intervention of the Centre to secure their release. Talking to reporters here Elsamma Thomas, Abdul Azeez and Jinsha Ajith said their sons Tijo Thomas, Thufael and husband Ajith Augistine, were arrested on suspicion of their involvement in the murder of a Filipino woman, who was a money lender. They said the accused, working in a firm in Kuwait went to Filipino woman’s place for taking money on loan but she was found murdered after their visit. On inquiry from the friends of the trio it was found that they were innocent and were falsely implicated in the case, the family claimed. (UNI)