Home » 2010 » April (Page 13)

11 people still missing in Assam boat tragedy

Guwahati, April 30 – Rescue workers gave up the search for the 11 people missing after an overcrowded country boat capsized midstream in Assam Thursday evening after finding two more bodies Friday. A police spokesperson said there were about 25 people, mostly students, in a small wooden boat travelling from Naharkatia to Bamungaon in Tinsukia district, when it capsized in the Buridihing river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, about 550 km east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati. ‘We recovered two bodies, both girl students, from the river Thursday and two more bodies were fished out Friday,’ a police official said.

Dev Anand, Pran receive Dadasaheb Phalke honour

Mumbai, April 30 – Bollywood’s evergreen actor Dev Anand was Friday conferred the Phalke Ratna award here while iconic villain Pran was honoured with the Phalke Icon and Legendary Cine Versatile Cine Star award. The honours were given away on the 141st birth anniversary of Dadasaheb Phalke, considered the father of Indian movies. ‘Whenever I close my eyes and try to recollect, I see all the legends of Bollywood those who have contributed immensely to Indian cinema.

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PM back home after hectic three-day Bhutan visit

New Delhi/Thimphu, April 30 – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone of three key projects in Bhutan Friday before returning home after a hectic three-day trip to the Himalayan kingdom for the 16th SAARC summit during which he held ice-breaking talks with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani. On the last day of his visit, Manmohan Singh held a bilateral meeting with Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and laid the foundation stones of the India-funded state-of-the-art medical institute, two hydroelectricity plants and an IT project. The two hydroelectric plants have a combined capacity to generate 1,710 MW of power in the water-resource rich nation that will enable Bhutan to export clean energy to India and other neighbours.

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South Indian Bank net profit up by 20 percent

Thrissur (Kerala), April 30 – Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) posted net profit of Rs.233.76 crore in the last fiscal — a rise of 20.03 percent over the previous year (2008-09). The total business of the bank increased by 29.40 percent to Rs.39,127 crore and the deposits grew to Rs.23,012 crore from Rs.18,092 crore in the previous fiscal, SIB said in a release. The bank earned a total income of Rs.2,144.18 crore during the year as against Rs.1,851.19 crore in 2008-09.

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MPs panel dismayed that India can’t make warfare clothing

New Delhi, April 30 – A parliamentary panel has lamented that India, which is capable of launching satellites and manufacturing missiles, tanks and other state-of-the-art defence equipment, lacks adequate capabilities for making specialised clothing for high altitude warfare. That is the reason why, of the 55 items authorised for soldiers stationed in areas like the Siachen Glacier and Kargil, 19 critical items like down feather jackets, trousers, sleeping bags, multipurpose boots, woollen socks and rucksacks are being imported ‘as no indigenous source was available’, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in its report. The committee recommended that domestic production capabilities be strengthened, at least in the public sector, ‘even if the Indian private sector is not forthcoming, ostensibly due to lack of economic viability considerations’.

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NTPC targets 10,000MW in south India by 2017

Hyderabad, April 30 – Power utility NTPC said Friday it is planning to produce over 10,000 MW in south India by 2017. The company currently has an installed capacity of 5,460 MW in the region against a total capacity of 31,704 MW in the country. It has drawn up plans to add 2,490 MW of electricity by the end of 11th five-year plan (2007-12) and another 8,350 MW in the 12th plan (2012-17).

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Fire on 7th floor of Delhi building

New Delhi, April 30 – A fire broke out Friday on the seventh floor of a building housing government offices at Khan Market in New Delhi, a Delhi Fire Service (DFS) official said. ‘We got to know about the fire incident at 10:10 a.m. Six fire tenders were rushed to the spot,’ the official said.

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Mahindra to shut down football club Mahindra United

New Delhi, April 30 – In a major set-back for Indian football, automobile giants Mahindras Friday announced it was shutting down Mumbai-based 48-year-old football club, Mahindra United. Mahindra United’s president Alan Durante told IANS from Mumbai that the company has decided to close the football club and concentrate on school soccer. ‘We realised that we were not contributing much to development of the game in the country by running a football club.

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Saudi budget airline nasair to expand Indian operations

Mumbai, April 30 – Saudi budget airline nasair, which operates four flights a week between Riyadh and Mumbai, said Friday it will expand operations in the country from June. ‘From June 1, nasair will connect Kochi with Riyadh with three flights a week and Kozhikode and Riyadh with four flights a week from July 1,’ said Suliman A. Al-Hamdan, CEO of National Air Services (NAS Holdings), which owns nasair.

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