Two days after a successful trial, the advanced version of pilotless target aircraft Lakshya-II was again successfully flight-tested at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) near Balasore in Odisha on friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday reviewed the post-cyclone situation and damages caused by Cyclone Yaas in the state at a meeting in Bhubaneswar where Odisha government demanded long term solutions to mitigate problems of repeated cyclones and provision of disaster resilient power systems.
The extremely severe cyclonic storm, which made landfall at Puri on Friday, unleashed copious rain and windstorm that gusted up to 200 kmph, blowing away thatched roofs of houses, swamped towns and villages, before weakening and entering West Bengal
The tests were conducted by the Indian Air Force, which will be the first service to induct the Akash missiles in its inventory.
Heavy rains in the aftermath of Cyclone Phailin triggered floods in Odisha on Monday with over 2.5 lakh people being marooned in Balasore -- one of the two worst-hit districts along with Mayurbanj -- and several rivers were in spate.
The Eastern Railway has cancelled the departure of Howrah-New Delhi AC Special Express for Wednesday.
Counting of votes is underway in assembly byelection to 58 seats in 11 states including Madhya Pradesh where the results will decide the fate of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.
The successful test will result in huge savings of replacement cost of missiles held in the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces.
Banerjee said the state is targeting to shift at least 10 lakh people to safer places in a bid to avoid any loss of life.
An unspecified number of people were evacuated from coastal areas of Odisha where Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore were likely to experience heavy rainfall accompanied by high-velocity winds, particularly on May 19 and 20, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.
In a bid to galvanise its air defence capabilities, India on Tuesday successfully test fired a new, long range surface-to-air missile jointly developed with Israel from a defence base off Odisha coast.
Nearly 100 acre of paddy field in Madhuban area near the district headquarters town of Baripada has already been submerged.
Officials said there was also a threat of more rains in the state.
Floods: 90,000 affected in Orissa; situation critical in Sangli, Kolhapur
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had on Tuesday sent a letter to the Election Commission requesting withdrawal of the MCC from all coastal districts to make it easier for the government to handle the impending cyclonic storm "Fani" in the state.
After a vertical lift-off at 12.15 pm from launch pad number three at the ITR, 15 km from Balasore, the surface-to-surface missile rose into the sky leaving behind a ribbon of white smoke, defence sources said.
At least 29 people were killed after being struck by lightning in different parts of Odisha.
India on Friday successfully test-fired the new surface-to-air missile, developed jointly with Israel, with a strike range upto 70 km, from a defence base off Odisha coast, a day after two similar trials were conducted.
Exactly a year after the very severe cyclonic storm Phailin struck the state, another storm is heading towards the Odisha coast.
A day after Cyclone Yaas tore through coastal Odisha and Bengal to cause havoc as far as Jharkhand, tornadoes, torrential rains, bridge collapses and swelling rivers continued to plague eastern India as people tried to pick up their lives amid the debris of swept away mud homes and swamped farmlands.
Rain and thundershower lashed many places in Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, and Balasore in Odisha, disrupting normal life, the weatherman said.
The state-of-the-art advanced missile, a product of joint venture between India and Israel.
Odisha government has declared lightning as a state-specific disaster.
Relief and restoration work was stepped up on Tuesday in areas ravaged by twin calamity of Cyclone Phailin and resultant floods in Odisha, which affected over 1.2 crore people in more than 16,000 villages and claimed 26 lives. Of the 26, five people died in floods.
Severe cyclonic storm Phailin, which forced the evacuation of over 8 lakh people, left a trail of destruction in coastal areas of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and disrupted communication lines before weakening considerably on Sunday.
The missile positioned at launch pad-3 of the ITR swung in to action after getting signal from the radars to intercept a moving aerial target supported by an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) 'Banshee' over the Bay of Bengal, officials said.
Berhampur, the biggest city in southern Odisha, on Monday looked like a war zone as Cyclone Phailin left behind a trail of destruction. The cyclone accompanied by heavy rain hit Gopalpur, about 15 km from Behrampur, and battered the city and its nearby areas.
"The fire which broke out in the underground magazine store of the Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) in the early hours has been fully controlled by fire-fighters," said Director of PXE, R Appavuraj.
India successfully conducted the third developmental trial in four days of its indigenously developed beyond visual range air-to-air missile 'Astra' on Monday from the integrated test range at Chandipur, 15 km from Balasore in Odisha.
Odisha's Law and Urban Development Minister Raghunath Mohanty resigned on Friday on "moral grounds" after his daughter-in-law filed a dowry case against him and his family members.
"It was a direct hit and grand success," defence sources said after the test launch.
Former Odisha law minister Raghunath Mohanty and his wife Pritilata, accused of torture by their daughter-in-law for dowry, were released on Tuesday after spending three days in jail following bail granted to them by a local court.
At least 115 child rape cases have been registered in 59 days, in January and February this year, in Odisha, the state assembly was informed on Thursday.
With the focus now shifting from disaster mitigation of cyclone to flood relief, the defence ministry on Monday said it has pressed four helicopters into service to evacuate the marooned local population as well as to drop relief materials to Phailin hit areas.
The surface-to-surface missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher at about 0830 hrs from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island, about 100 km from Balasore in Odisha, defence sources said.
Using the hashtag, SATYAGRAHagainstExamInCovid, many students also took to Twitter to appeal to the government to heed to their demands.
Patnaik will take oath as the chief minister for fifth time in a row at 10.30 am on Wednesday.
Boosting its air defence shield and re-validating operational efficacy, India on Thursday test fired successfully its indigenously-developed surface-to-air 'Akash' missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, nearly 15 km from Balasore. "The user-specific trial, which formed part of the country's routine air defence exercises, was successful," said a Defence Research Development Organisation official associated with the Akash missile project.
Jihadi outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayiba are planning attacks in Odisha and Maharashtra besides making fresh recruitment efforts in the Northeast, Assam DGP Jayanta Narayan Choudhury said.
Two days after its successful trial, India on Saturday again test-fired the indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile from the test range at Chandipur near Balasore. "The user specific trial, which formed part of the country's routine air defence exercises, was conducted from the ITR," said a Defence Research Development Organisation official associated with the Akash missile project.
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