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GUWAHATI: Flood situation in Assam worsened on Sunday with 43 more villages in three districts getting submerged, while water entered the Kaziranga National Park where an antelope was killed, officials said. About 65,000 people of 170 villages in seven districts - Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup, Karimganj and Lakhimpur - were affected. However, there was no report of any casualty. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), Brahmaputra and its tributaries Jia Bharali and Dikhow were flowing over danger mark at Jorhat, Sonitpur and Sivasagar. Altogether 43 villages have come under water in Dhemaji, Jorhat and Sivasagar districts since Saturday affecting nearly 5,000 people. Around 800 people are taking shelter in three relief camps in Dhemaji. As per ASDMA records, a total of almost 2,400 hectare of agricultural land with standing crops have been submerged in the affected districts. While heavy rains were reported from various parts of the state, erosio

DEHRADUN/HARIDWAR: There was still no clarity over the number of deaths in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, with a state minister on Sunday not ruling out an "estimate" of 10,000-plus and chief minister Vijay Bahuguna putting the number of missing people at 3,000. Uttarakhand health minister Surinder Singh Negi did not discount assembly speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal's claim on Saturday of the toll in the tragedy having crossed 10,000. "He (Kunjwal) has given an estimated figure. At the moment, it is an estimate. It can go down, or it could go up. It is too early to give the exact number of deaths in the tragedy that has completely devastated the state," Negi told IANS. The estimates, he said, were based on what evacuated people recounted to the rescue teams and to government officials. Bahuguna, meanwhile, put the number of people missing in the flash floods at 3,000. "After taking into consideration all the missing person reports lodged in this state and els

LUCKNOW: Incessant rains lashed various parts of Uttar Pradesh, with four people losing their lives in incidents of building collapse, even as major rivers continued to flow above the danger mark. According to a report by the Central Water Commission, Ghaghra, Sharda, Quano, RaandBudhiRapti rivers remained swollen and were flowing above danger level. Quano river was flowing one metre above the danger mark at Chandradeepghat in Gonda, and has crossed the red mark at Mukhlispur in Sant Kabir Nagar. Ghaghra was flowing above danger at Elgin Bridge in Barabanki and Turtipar (Ballia), and has reached near red mark at Ayodhya. Similarly, Sharda was flowing above danger at Paliakalan, whereas Budhi Rapti has crossed red mark at Kakrahi in Siddharth Nagar district. Four persons, including two children, died in incidents of building collapse due to heavy rains during past 24 hours. In Faizabad, a 32-year-old man and his two daughters Ananya (4) and Neha (6) died after their house situated in R

VADODARA: The Congress has alleged that several areas in the city are receiving contaminated water supply and that it can lead to disease outbreak. The Congress leaders have written to the municipal commissioner urging him to act immediately in areas like Sama and Navayard. According to Congress city president Narendra Ravat, drainage lines in areas like Sama, Navayard and Fulwadi are chocked and overflowing. "The contaminated water is getting mixed with drinking water supply and such overflowing drainage water may lead to disease outbreaks like cholera, malaria and fever," Ravat said. Ravat claimed that over 400 persons have already suffered from fever and diarrhea in last few weeks. Ravat also alleged that neither councilors not Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) officials have visited Sama area despite locals making constant complaints. "We have written several letters to VMC officials and mayor in the past to bring the incidents of leaking pipelines and contaminat

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed his water and power minister to India to address the severe energy crisis facing the country. "We are facing acute electricity shortage and any assistance in the power sector will help us in addressing the problem," Sharif said while speaking to members of the Pak-India Joint Business Council at the Prime Minister's Office yesterday. Sharif told the meeting that he had directed Khawaja Muhammad Asif, minister for water and power, to visit India and explore potential areas of cooperation between the two countries, the official APP news agency reported. Earlier, Asif had said that the energy crisis in Pakistan will take at least two years to be resolved. Asif said that due to shortage of power the country had sustained a huge loss of Rs 1,000 billion in the last five years. Pakistan is currently facing a power deficit of 4,000-5,000 megawatts per day. Earlier this month, Pakistan had sought 500 MW of electr

DEHRADUN: With the majority of pilgrims evacuated from Badrinath, disposal of bodies lying in affected areas and transportation of relief material to locals in flooded villages on Sunday posed a fresh challenge to authorities in Uttarakhand. Uncertainty prevailed on the 15th day of the calamity over the number of people killed with conflicting casualty figures doing the rounds. 200 more pilgrims were evacuated from Badrinath to Joshimath on Sunday in five choppers amid government claims of only 500 remaining there with enough food material, medicines and doctors to take care of them. Supplying foodgrains to affected villages is proving to be an onerous task for the administration now as trucks loaded with relief material are stuck at different places in the city in the absence of roads which suffered extensive damage in the floods, official sources said. Disposal of bodies in worst-hit Kedarnath valley is going on but the process is slow due to erratic weather conditions, DIG Sanjay G

GUWAHATI: With the water level in the Brahmaputra and some of its tributaries rising, authorities at Assam's famed Kaziranga National Park - a Unesco World Heritage Site - have commenced their annual ritual of sounding an alert and taking precautionary measures to tackle the possibility of floods. Park Director NK Vasu said the flood management plans were reviewed after the waters entered the park a few days ago. "The park gets flooded every year and this is very important from the ecological point of view. Floods are necessary as they wash away the unwanted weeds from the park," he said. "However, we have put in place a flood management plan anticipating high floods like last year, when animals suffer and poachers also take advantage and kill rhinos inside the park," Vasu said. The worst floods in memory had hit the national park last year, killing several hundred wild animals, including one-horned rhinos, elephants and many other species. Close to 500 hog dee