The solicitor general said that the PM CARES Fund is a 'voluntary fund'. "It is a public trust. It is a body where you can make voluntary contributions and no budgetary allocations to the NDRF or SDRF are being touched. What has to be spent will be spent," the law officer said.
'She is probably no more. The bodies were charred, you cannot look at them. How will you identify?'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the preparedness to deal with the situation arising out of the likely formation of Cyclone Jawad that is expected to hit the North Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coast and directed officials to take every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated.
Parts of Raigad, Ratnagiri districts in the coastal Konkan region and Kolhapur district in western Maharashtra, have been worst affected by the floods. Besides that, heavy rains have been pounding parts of Satara district.
The maximum damage has been reported from Mandi, Kangra and Chamba districts, he said, adding that so far 36 weather-related incidents have been reported from the state.
The Gujarat high court on Tuesday heard a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on Morbi bridge tragedy and asked the state government as to how no expression of interest was tendered, and how the 'largesse of the state' was given to an individual without floating a tender.
An estimated 1.5 lakh people are being shifted from low-lying coastal areas in Gujarat while 54 teams of the NDRF and SDRF remained deployed on Sunday in view of the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) warning that the very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae will reach the state coast on Monday evening and cross it on early Tuesday morning.
The Army, the National Disaster Response Force, police and the fire force along with the locals began rescue operations on Sunday morning at Koottickal and Kokkayar panchayats where over a dozen people are listed to be missing due to numerous landslides accompanied by heavy downpour since Saturday.
One person was confirmed dead after a private boat heading to Majuli sank on Wednesday evening, following a head-on collision with a government-owned ferry near Nimati Ghat in Jorhat district.
The low-pressure area over the South Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal is very likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a depression by Saturday, the weather office said.
NHAI has already initiated process to handle such emergency situation and also taking all possible measures to avoid such incidents in future, an official statement said on Sunday.
"Six bodies have been retrieved from the accident site so far. The rescue teams are still on job," an NDRF spokesperson said.
The funds will be released to West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Sikkim as assistance for the damage caused by cyclone, floods and landslides during the year.
Assam reeled under devastating floods caused by incessant rain, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking stock of the situation and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visiting several relief camps sheltering affected people on Saturday, officials said.
"The death toll has gone up to 24. The search operations are still going on. However, rains have started. "Despite that, our officials, and the NDRF are engaged in search and rescue operations," Idukki District Collector H Dineshan said.
The weather system over the South Andaman Sea and the adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal is very likely to move north-westwards and strengthen into a depression by Saturday, the Met Department said.
PM Narendra Modi took stock of the situation and directed all authorities concerned to be on alert for rescue and relief operations
Using drones and remote-sensing equipment, rescue teams intensified efforts on Wednesday to reach the 25-35 men trapped in a sludge-choked tunnel since the Uttarakhand glacier disaster three days ago and more than 170 remained missing, hopes of finding them alive fading with every passing hour.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
Cyclone Nivar is expected to intensify into a 'very severe cyclonic storm' and cross Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mamallapuram on the late evening of November 25, the India Meteorological Department has said.
More than 50 workers were at work in the night shift when the mishap occurred in unit-4.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray through video conference and took stock of the state's preparedness to tackle any eventuality, the latter's office said. 10 units of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in vulnerable districts, while six others have been kept on a stand-by, officials said.
'Imagine hanging from a thin steel cable under a helicopter with certain death staring at you below, being pulled up slowly in the din and downwash of the helicopter.' IAF Veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe, a helicopter pilot himself, reports on how the air force rescued those trapped in the Deoghar cable cars disaster last fortnight.
Staff at the Simhachalam north railway station, which is near the chemical plant LG Polymers started feeling suffocated and burning sensation in the eyes soon after the leak. Trains crossing the railway station stopped from 8:35 am to 12 noon.
Three children were killed and several others went missing after three houses collapsed in a village following heavy rains in Dharchula sub-division of the district, an official said on Monday.
Thackeray is in constant touch with collectors of districts on the western coast of the state for updates about the impact of Nisarga, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.
The Met Department has predicted light to moderate rainfall across parts of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha with the probability of the severe cyclonic storm 'Asani' recurving.
The depression formed over Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea would turn into a cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours and reach near the Gujarat coast on the morning of May 18, officials said.
Two civic officials have been suspended in connection with the collapse and an offence has been registered against the building owner, an official said.
It also opposed the suggestion that the contributions be transferred to the National Disaster Response Fund.
Police said around half-a-dozen dumper trucks and some machines were buried under the debris caused by the landslide which occurred around 9 am in Tosham block.
Tracing the remaining persons was proving a daunting task as the river remained in spate with over two lakh cusecs of floodwater gushing, sources said.
27 mountaineers perished in an avalanche in the mountains of Uttarakhand last week. The mountaineers were returning from a trek to the Draupadi's Danda mountain peak when disaster struck at 8.45 am in the morning.
The chief secretary said that as the state is witnessing heavy rains over the last three days, the collectors should be on high alert and take all steps to prevent loss of life, cattle or damage to any property.
In terms of casualties, Friday's fire at the commercial building was the largest since the blaze at a factory in the Anaj Mandi area and the second largest since the Uphaar Cinema tragedy in 1997.
Four people were killed and at least 10 injured Monday morning after a fire broke out in a hotel here, prompting authorities to issue orders for demolition of the four-storey building after following the 'due process'.
The body, located 200 feet away from the bottom of the mine, was brought out using the Indian Navy's underwater remotely operated vehicle and an National Disaster Response Force boat on Wednesday, said operations spokesman R Susngi.
According to the home ministry's National Emergency Response Centre, 138 people have died in Maharashtra, 125 in Kerala, 116 in West Bengal, 52 in Gujarat and 34 in Assam due to the floods and rains.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the hologram statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate on Sunday evening on the occasion of his 125th birth anniversary.
In an apparent swipe at previous Congress dispensations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that attempts were made after independence to erase contributions of many great people besides India's culture and values, and asserted that the country is now correcting mistakes of the past.
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