HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: Cyclonic storm Laila late on Thursday caused havoc in coastal Andhra Pradesh, killing 14 people, inundating scores of villages and inflicting massive damage to infrastructure, before heading towards the neighbouring Orissa.
Accompanied by heavy rains, high storm surges and winds with speed of 125 km an hour, the storm hit southern part of Andhra Pradesh snapping mobile links, forcing cancellation of trains and damaging electricity and communication systems.
Officials said huge storm surges were seen in the Bay of Bengal when the cyclone hit the coast about 50 km from Bapatla, a town in southern district of Guntur.
Storm surge of 1.5 to 2 metres inundated the villages along the coast, the officials said.
After the landfall, the cyclone re-emerged in northern Bay of Bengal and headed towards Balasore in neighbouring Orissa.
Weather officials said the course of Laila was not unusual as there were precedents of cyclones re-emerging on sea after landfall.
"We are still assessing the damages caused by the cyclone in coastal Andhra," a top official in the disaster management department said in Hyderabad.
However, massive destruction is not likely as the cyclone had shown signs of weakening before it hit the land.
"The intensity of cyclone Laila has reduced in the last 12 hours and it will further weaken in the next couple of hours. But it will continue to cause heavy rainfall over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana during next 36 hours," Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) director general AK Tyagi told reporters in New Delhi.
The rain and accompanying strong winds battered the six coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh where at least 11 towns and 1,500 villages were plunged into darkness as electricity poles and transformers were uprooted, officials said in Hyderabad.
Officials said high speed winds also uprooted cell phone towers and damaged other communication equipment in Prakasam, Guntur, Nellore, Krishna, and East and West Godavari districts.
Except state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the networks of all other mobile service providers were not working in the affected districts, causing anxiety to people in other parts of the state and outside.
As electricity supply to 11 towns and nearly 1,500 villages in the six districts was snapped, those having BSNL mobile phone connections also could not be reached after the batteries of their cell-phones ran out as they could not be recharged.
Anticipating damage to landline and mobile communication, district authorities have arranged ham radio network and satellite phones for effective communication during rescue and relief works.
At several places, bus stations, shops and even hospitals are under two feet of water. Road and rail transport was also paralysed, especially in the worst-hit Prakasam and Guntur districts.
Heavy to very heavy rains inundated several parts of the port town of Machilipatnam in Krishna district. Large parts of Ongole town in Prakasam and Bapatla in Guntur districts are also under water, the officials said.
The storm badly hit train services in coastal Andhra Pradesh with as many as 31 passenger trains being cancelled Thursday and Friday and some others diverted.
Several trains are running four to six hours behind schedule due to incessant rains and gales. In Ongole town of Prakasam district, railway tracks were inundated.
Mango, banana and other horticulture crops over thousands of acres in the coastal districts were damaged.
Authorities had alerted people in 777 villages in coastal districts and evacuated over 50,000 people while thousands of others moved to safe places on their own.
Over 500 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed with boats and other rescue equipment. Four helicopters have been kept ready for rescue while the state authorities have also sought help from the Indian Navy.
An official statement said army authorities were contacted for deployment of helicopters for rescue and relief operations.
The state government has also made a request for deployment of 100 army personnel in Krishna, West Godavari and East Godavari districts.
Chief Minister K Rosaiah told reporters in Hyderabad that nine helicopters were ready for rescue and relief works in the affected districts.
"We have taken all preventive measures to minimise the loss of lives and property. The official machinery is prepared to deal with any eventuality," he said.
Mamata stoking panic amongst Muslims: CPI-M
Accusing Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee of "stoking panic" amongst Muslims in West Bengal, the CPI(M) today asked the Government to take note of her statements and set at rest the apprehensions caused by them.
Seeking Home Minister P Chidambaram's intervention in the matter, CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury and Basudeb Acharia accused Banerjee of "deliberately stoking panic and terror amongst the Muslim minority population claiming that she has secret information that a section of the police will help the Left Front in unleashing communal violence in the state."
In a letter to Chidambaram, they said if Banerjee genuinely possessed such "secret information", then Home Ministry should "obtain it and act on it in consultation with the state government".
"If on the contrary, there is no such information, as surely is the case, then may we request you to set at rest the apprehensions and tensions that have resulted from the Union Minister's utterances,", the senior CPI(M) leaders, who met Chidambaram, said.
They drew Chidambaram's attention to "a serious situation that is developing in the course of the current election campaign to municipal corporations" in West Bengal and sought his intervention.
Maintaining that 30 years of Left Front rule was marked by "unprecedented communal harmony and fraternity", they said any effort to blemish this record would not be in the interests national unity and integrity.
"Further, casting such wild and unsubstantiated allegations, especially by a Union cabinet minister, also violates the provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951," Yechury and Acharia said.
They submitted another letter in this regard, written by Left Front Chairman Biman Basu, to the Home Minister.
HC refuses to revive Babri case against Advani
LUCKNOW: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani and 20 others got a reprieve on Thursday with the Allahabad High Court rejecting a plea to revive criminal cases against them in the 18-year-old Babri Mosque demolition case.
The Lucknow bench of the court dismissed a plea of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to revive criminal cases against the accused.
In his 44-page judgement, Justice Alok Kumar Singh of the Lucknow bench of the high court said, "...Nothing is found against the correctness, legality, propriety or regularity in respect of any of the findings of the lower court".
"There is no embellishment in the impugned order dated May 4, 2001 neither on factual or legal matrix. Hence there is no occasion for this court to make any interference in the impugned order," the court said.
The CBI had sought the high court's intervention to revive criminal cases against Advani and 20 others, against whom the trial court had dropped the charge of criminal conspiracy for the demolition of the 16th century mosque by violent Hindu mobs in Uttar Pradesh's ancient town of Ayodhya Dec 6, 1992.
Besides Advani, those who benefit from by the high court's order include senior BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar.
Former BJP leaders Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal also benefit from the high court order.
The high court decision implies that trial in criminal cases related the demolition will now be held against 26 little-known workers of the BJP and its allies, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal.
Ruchika molestation case: Verdict on May 25
New Delhi: A sessions court deferred to May 25 verdict on plea for enhancing sentence of former Haryana police chief SPS Rathore in Ruchika Girhotra molestation case.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Gurbir Singh deferred the verdict to May 25 saying since the judgment is lengthy it is being postponed by five days to provide time to complete the process of writing the judgement.
The Judge had on May 11 last fixed for today verdict on the three pleas-- one by the former DGP challenging his six month rigorous imprisonment for "outraging the modesty" of 14-year-old tennis player Ruchika and two appeals by Ruchika's family and the CBI seeking enhancement of the sentence awarded to him by the trial court.
Rathore and his lawyer wife Abha arrived in the court half-an-hour before the scheduled time 2 PM and sat quietly.
Ruchika's father S C Girhotra and Anand Prakash and Madhu Prakash, parents of the sole eyewitness Aradhna, also came to the court before time.
Rathore was sentenced to six-month imprisonment on December 21 last year by a CBI court for molesting the budding tennis player at Panchakula in Haryana on August 12, 1990.
Reacting on the verdict, Ruchika's father S C Girhotra told reporters outside the court that there was nothing wrong in the judgement being postponed.
"The Judge could not have completed his judgment. We are hopeful that justice will be done. We have no doubt (on this)," he added.
Anand Prakash said Rathore had aleady been held guilty by the trial court which took a lenient view of his crime due to his age and health.
He alleged Rathore misused his position to molest the girl. "Instead of protecting the child, he molested her," Prakash said adding it was a premeditated action by the police officer.
He said defence presented by the former DGP in the court are after-thoughts. "16 witnesses, including two retired IAS officers, were presented and it is a strong case in our favour," he claimed.
"We will not leave our fight and take it to its logical end," he said.
Madhu Prakash said punishment to Rathore will send a strong message to the society that law is equal for all.
Ruchika family's lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj said he was neither upset nor hurt at the postponment.
He claimed Rathore's arrest is imminent after theorder of the appelant court next week. "The only way Rathore can seek bail is that he will have to approach the High Court," he added.
Naval war room leak case accused Shankaran arrested
In a major breakthrough in the Naval war room leak case, one of the main accused Ravi Shankaran, a close relative of the then Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash, was arrested in London.
"He has been arrested by the police in London and is at present out on bail. We have moved papers for his extradition," CBI Director Ashwani Kumar said.
46-year old Shankaran, against whom an Interpol Red Corner notice was issued in 2006, is one of the main accused who had allegedly passed on vital information to certain arms dealers for procurement for Indian Navy.
He was declared a proclaimed offender in 2006 with the government revoking his passport and approaching a UK court for his arrest. However, he had managed to give a slip to London Police and was believed to have been roaming in countries like France, Italy and Denmark.
Business News
Food inflation surges to 16.49 pct
New Delhi: Food Inflation rose to 16.49 per cent for the week ended May 8, mainly due to high prices of vegetables and fruits.
Inflation rose by 0.05 per cent from 16.44 per cent in the previous week.
On a weekly basis, Onions turned expensive by 5.73 per cent, potatoes by 0.95 per cent, fruits by 0.41 per cent and vegetables by 2.41 per cent while prices of urad and moong rose by two per cent each.
On an annual basis, pulses turned costlier by 33.65 per cent and fruits by 17 per cent.
Food Inflation had breached the 20 per cent-mark in December.
During the week, prices of non-food articles declined by 0.35 per cent, as raw rubber prices sank 7 per cent and linseed fell 2 per cent.
Fuel prices remained steady over the week, but rose 12.33 per cent on an annual basis.
ONGC lifts Sensex up by 111 pts
Mumbai: Led by oil and gas major ONGC, the benchmark Sensex on BSE bounced back to close higher by 111 points, a day after it got a severe drubbing.
The 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 111.19 points, or 0.68 per cent, to end at 16,519.68 points.
Interestingly, the Indian market was the only gainer among major bourses in the Asia today.
The barometer had taken a hit of 467 points yesterday on debt concerns in euro zone.
The National Stock Exchange's wide-based 50-share Nifty index settled at 4,947.60 points, up 0.57 per cent.
Discarding a rise in food prices and bearish Asian stocks, the Sensex continued to trade in positive zone after a firm opening. With European bourses also rising in their opening, the index surged over 209 points by mid-session.
"Markets pulled back as investors took opportunity to buy shares at relatively lower price. Though still markets are on weaker side but a small bounce back cannot be ruled out in a few coming sessions," SMC Capital vice-president Rajesh Jain said.
End of the uncertainty over 3G spectrum auction, that left the government with a Rs 67,710 crore revenue also helped improve the market sentiment. Analysts said the government earning nearly double the money it projected in the Budget augurs well for the health of the economy.
Imports surging by a never-seen-before USD 8 billion in April also helped. Sentiment got a fillip after the Indian Met Department said the tropical cyclone 'Laila' will not impact the monsoon pattern, which is forecast to be normal.
Public sector-major ONGC rallied 8.72 per cent to emerge as the best performer among Sensex stocks. Brokers attributed the rise government doubling prices of natural gas to USD 4.20 per mmBtu. PSU stock IOC gained 4 per cent and Gail India 2 per cent. Energy giant RIL advanced by 0.16 per cent.
On sectoral front, PSU and Oil & Gas led the gain, while a good buying was seen in pharma and banking stocks. However, realty, auto and consumer good sectors ended in red.
ICICI Bank, which was battered in the past 2-3 sessions on worries of valuation of a deal with BoR, recovered and ended with a net gain of 1.01 per cent. State Bank of India climbed 2.19 per cent and HDFC by 1.53 per cent.
Among the 30-components of the Sensex, 18 ended with gain where rest 12 finished in negative zone. Sterlite Industries rose 2.35 per cent and Cipla by 1.68 per cent.
Among the losers, Jaiprakash Associates dropped 3.28 per cent and was followed by DLF by 2.81 per cent and Grasim by 2.45 per cent. Grasim will be replaced by Jindal Steel & Power in the Sensex, the BSE said yesterday. The replacement will be effective from May 26.
On theglobal front, all major Asian markets closed in red. Europe was negative by the mid-session.
Monsoon on track despite cyclone
New Delhi: India's monsoon rains are on track to hit the country's southern coast on May 30, and the Laila cyclone in the Bay of Bengal would not derail the vital June-September rainfall, weather office spokesman B.P. Yadav said.
Some weather officials had blamed the Aila cyclone of May 2009 for the last year's drought, the worst in 37 years, but Yadav said the India Meteorological Department believes that this year's rains would be normal despite the storm.
Sports News
Dhoni still one of the best skippers: Murali
New Delhi:India's Twenty20 World Cup flop show notwithstanding, Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains one of the best skippers in international cricket and it is unfair to criticise him on the basis of just one bad tournament, said Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.
"He is one of the best captains. He won the IPL for Chennai Super Kings. A week later India were knocked out of the World Cup and in India when you win you are the best but when you lose you become the worst," Muralitharan quipped.
"But you cannot become the worst in just a week. The media cannot bring him down like that," the off-spinner said.
Apart from the team's poor batting and fitness, critics attributed India's dismal show to Dhoni's uninspiring captaincy as well.
Muralitharan said India cannot be overnight labelled a bad team as it has proved itself in the Test and ODI arena.
"They don't lack skill. They are the number one in Tests and number two in ODIs. You cannot reach there if you don't have the skills," he reasoned on the sidelines of a function to announce the Indian International Film Academy (IIFA) awards which would be held in Sri Lanka this year.
"Twenty20 is a game anybody can win on his day. While in Tests and ODIs, there is time for you to come back. There is no such thing in Twenty20. India had a good team but they lost the grip after winning two matches initially. In Twenty20 you need a bit of luck also.
"England was the best team and they won the title but Australia won all their matches and lost in the final. It just shows that you need some luck too. Like in IPL, the game can change in just one over," he said.
As for the IPL post-match parties, which Dhoni had blamed for exhausting players, Muralitharan said he never attended any of them.
"No, I don't think it's fair to blame the IPL. I never attended the parties. As a franchisee, we never attended those parties. So, I cannot say," he said.
Nursing a groin now, the ace off-spinner is all set for a comeback in next month's Asia Cup.
"I will be there at Asia Cup. I am fine now," he said.
Muralitharan will quit the game after 2011 ODI World Cup in the sub-continent and the 38-year-old veteran of 132 Tests and 334 one-dayers said he wants to sign off on a high.
"I never dreamt of getting what I have got. I have everything and I want to go on a high, instead of when I am down," he said.
Oz sides with Pak on match fixing
Cricket Australia has denied reports that the Sydney Test against Pakistan was fixed, and said that Ricky Ponting-led side pulled off a remarkable victory through its own hard work.
The Pakistan team management believes that their players fixed this year’s Sydney Test as well as a Twenty20 match; an inquiry into the failed Australia tour revealed.
A Cricket Australia spokesman said he had heard nothing about match-fixing allegations. “Our view on that match has always been that we won it from behind through our own efforts,” The Australian quoted him, as saying.
Pakistan had a 206-run lead after the first innings and reached 1-50 in their last innings, chasing a victory total of 175, but Pakistan lost its last nine wickets for 89 runs and with it the match by 36 runs.
The performance of Pakistani wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal attracted most attention in the match. He dropped four catches in the third innings and missed a run out chance against Shane Watson when the opener was on 49. Watson went on to make 97.
More importantly, he dropped Mike Hussey three times as the middle-order batsman compiled 134. Hussey and tailender Peter Siddle went on to make a 123-run partnership and they were also aided by a defensive field setting.
Senior Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam and manager Aaqib Javed told a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) inquiry earlier this year they thought bookmakers might have been involved in the events that saw the game lost.
“I have reservations over the way he missed the run out. When I saw it I couldn’t believe it. How he could miss such a big run out? I can’t say 100 per cent that there is match-fixing, but I have my strong suspicions,” he said.
Intikhab said: “Kamran is a match-winner but every time we came close to a victory, he played a bad shot and got out. I was flabbergasted when Kamran missed the run out. I have serious doubts about him. I have heard stories about match-fixing.”
Aaqib also had suspicions about the performance of fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in a Twenty20 match in Australia, saying, “We have heard things about him as well.”
McLaren's five star performance downs West Indies
North Sound (Antigua and Barbuda): A career-best spell from Ryan McLaren bowled South Africa to a 13-run victory in the first of two Twenty20 Internationals against West Indies here.
McLaren captured five wickets for 19 runs from 3.5 overs on Wednesday to earn the Man-of-the-Match award, as West Indies, chasing 137 for victory from their 20 overs, were dismissed for 123 with one ball to spare at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
The 27-year-old McLaren finished with the second-best figures in a Twenty20 international behind Pakistan's Umar Gul, who collected five for six from three overs against New Zealand at The Oval in London in last year's World Twenty20.
Both the West Indies and South Africa came into yesterday's match having failed to make it through to the knockout stages of this year's World Twenty20, which England won in Barbados on Sunday.
"It's a good way to start off the tour having practiced indoors and not outdoors for the last few weeks," said McLaren.
"But it's only the first day, and there's plenty more cricket to come, so hopefully, I can better this performance.
"We all know the nature of T20 cricket - the bowler is always up against it. You can take five wickets one day, and the next day, take a thumping, but I enjoyed it."
South Africa captain Graeme Smith added: "It was not an easy day for the batters, and you had to graft pretty hard.
"Playing shots was not easy, and there was a strong wind, so there were a lot of things you had to take into consideration.
"It was obviously nice to start with a win. This was the most important thing for us.
"We have worked really hard over the last few days here in Antigua, had a few discussions, the energy has been good around the team, and a lot of new faces have come in.
"We want to have a good tour of the Caribbean, so success in this match was very important to getting us off on the right foot."
Earlier veteran South African batsman Jacques Kallis had struck one four and three sixes in 53 from 45 balls, as South Africa laboured to 136 for seven from their 20 overs, after deciding to bat on an uneven pitch.
He added 73 for the second wicket with Smith, whose 37 from 31 balls included three fours and one six.
Once they were separated, South Africa's batting collapsed, and they lost their last five wickets for 16 runs from 26 balls.
McLaren then became only the fourth bowler to collect five wickets in a T20 match, when he ripped out Andre Fletcher caught behind by stand-in keeper AB de Villiers for a duck, and had the dangerous West Indies captain Chris Gayle caught at long-on for 14 to leave the hosts on 28 for two in the sixth over.
Johan Botha snuffed out a West Indies revivial, when he had Dwayne Bravo caught at long-on for 20 in the 10th over, and Narsingh Deonarine stumped by de Villiers for a duck two balls later.
When Roelof van der Merwe had Ramnaresh Sarwan caught at cover off the leading edge in the 11th over, West Indies still needed 85 from 56 balls, and there was little or no substance nor stability from the rest of the batting.
"It was a disappointing start for us," said Gayle. "We wanted to put our dismal performance in the T20 World Cup behind us, but this was not the best way to do it, and was not the best start to the series.
"We still have a match, so we have to pick ourselves up. This is no time for pointing fingers.
"We have a lot of corrections to make out there, and we have to return to the drawing board to try and get the best out of the players."
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