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Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh ordered a magisterial probe into the Larji dam episode that washed away 24 students and 3 Larji dam officials. However, the probe’s result is now predictable as CM himself certified that the Dam officials sounded the alarm before releasing the waters. Virbhadra said the teachers could have taken precautions to avert the tragedy. “Drowning is common near the river banks. Himachal is a state of rivers. The accidents are reported from many places, but no incident like this ever took place. I am not here to blame anyone, but the teachers should have taken necessary precautions,” he said. Refuting allegations that no warning was given, the CM said: “The warning system was on and ...

Even the faces of the tribal people of Mallapur light up whenever they display their solar home lighting. The lights were acquired thanks to a novel initiative by the NGO, Dhan Foundation, the National Bank for Rural and Agriculture Development, the Indo-German watershed development project and the Deccan Grameen Bank. Villagers are proud on their village having becoming the first in Telangana to have solar home lighting and revel in the fact that they did not have to pay any money to acquire the same. This village in Indervelli mandal with 82 houses has already established itself as a model village by managing local watershed to maximum advantage, implementing prohibition and banning tobacco etc. It is the resolve of the ...

Around 25 students from VNR college in Hyderabad have been swept away by a sudden surge of water in River Beas in Himachal Pradesh. A search is on for the missing students in the Kullu valley. A senior state government official, said: “The water was released by the Larji power project dam.” The students have been trapped by sudden rise in Beas River waters downstream of Largi Project at Talot Village on the border of Kullu and Mandi districts. The incident took place some 200km (125 miles) from the state capital, Shimla, as the students were travelling to the popular tourist resort of Manali. The students had reportedly left a bus to take photographs when the surge occurred. Himachal Transport ...

Telangana CM KCR payed a courtesy call to President Pranab on his maiden visit to Delhi as Chief Minister. KCR has been in touch with Pranab as part of his lobbying efforts over the years for statehood. Pranab then headed quite a few committees for Congress and the Central Govt. on the Telangana statehood issue. Now that KCR is the CM of the Telangana State, the visit is sweet for KCR. The President too, apparently was in jovial mood and congratulated KCR for achieving statehood for Telangana. The President reportedly remarked, “Only you could do it. You started it and you finished it. A lot of people could not see Telangana”. KCR was visibly bowled by the compliments from the ...

In his first visit to the capital after taking over as the first chief minister of Telangana, K Chandrasekhara Rao on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded that his newly formed state be treated on a par with Andhra Pradesh for the purpose of giving them special category status. He also wanted tax incentives to Telangana on the lines of the ones extended to the hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Rao pointed out that it was a commitment under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. On his part, Modi, after earlier securing tacit support from two powerful regional leaders—J Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik— on Saturday reached out to KCR. Like Patnaik, who paraded his party’s 24 MPs ...