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May, 2005
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Jaipur citizens take to watermelons like fish to water

     Jaipur: With the mercury going up at a steady pace everyday, it is time for some juicy Watermelon n Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. The abundance of the fruit in the region makes it a natural favourite of the state. People are very fond of watermelons and they believe that by eating it they can beat the heat as it has high water content. "If you eat it (watermelons) cold it is very good for health. It helps keep the heat away in summers. It is a seasonal fruit, they are nice, we should eat it," said Devraj, a man who loves Watermelon. "It keeps the heat away, it is good for health and it is very tasty also," said Dilip Kumar, another one who is a fan of watermelon. Watermelon sellers can be seen at every nook and corner of the city selling the juicy fruit. The sellers do a brisk business during the peak summer season by selling the fruit. "Watermelons also come from outside Jaipur. As peak summers arrive the sales increase. The rates of the watermelons during the peak summer period ranges from 3 to 5 rupees per kilogram," said Shamsher Ali, a watermelon seller. Watermelons are also considered as fruits of a common man as they are priced at reasonable rates. The juicy, musk melons, watermelons come in abundance in summers. For nature is aware of the fact that due to heat and excessive sweating, people get dehydrated and they need to replenish more water. Watermelons and musk melons have 96 per cent water content. The more than five hundred varieties of watermelon grown world- wide give consumers many choices, with a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and colours to choose from.
- May 5, 2005

Zojilla Pass to be opened on May 20 (Go to Top)

     Zojilla (Jammu and Kashmir): The strategically located Zojilla Pass in Jammu and Kashmir will be opened to traffic on May 20. Dozens of armymen and snow cutters are working on war footing to clear the highway located at an altitude of 11,000 feet. The pass, which links Srinagar to Leh in Ladakh has remained closed for nearly six months. "It has not snowed so much in the last 10-12 years. Hence we have deployed more machines and plan to re-open the road at the scheduled time. We do not want the people of Kargil and Drass to face any problem as they remain without essential commodities especially fresh eatables for a long time. We are trying our best to re-open the road as soon as possible," said Lieutenant A.K. Bhandari, officer-in-charge. A convoy of Indian army passed through the road after the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) declared it traffic-worthy. The BRO undertakes snow clearance operations on all border roads in the tough Himalayan range every year, to facilitate movement of residents and military personnel to remote regions, usually cut- off due to snow from the rest of the country. One of the engineers, Ashutosh Pandey, described the work as the most difficult. "We do not belong to the mountains so are not used to rough terrains. There are risks of life involved. But we are mentally prepared and do our job as our duty," he said. The pass attracts the heaviest snowfall during winter. The 434- kilometre-long highway is Ladakh's lifeline and after the Kargil skirmishes in 1999 with Pakistan, the Centre has stepped up the pace of road construction because of the strategic significance of the area.
- May 3, 2005

Railway Superintendent suspended for checking MPs' tickets  (Go to Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

     New Delhi: Railway Superintendent at Kanpur Railway Station AK Singh has been suspended for allegedly "disturbing" a few MPs in the dead of the night for checking their rail tickets. As many as 18 MPs, besides a Union minister of state, were travelling from Delhi to Patna in a Rajdhani Express on April 30 when they were asked to open the doors of their AC First Class compartment for ticket-checking. Three RJD MPs "Raghunath Jha, Devendra Prasad Yadav and Alok Kumar Mehta - today raised the incident in the Lok Sabha saying that the members" privilege was breached by disturbing their sleep in the dead of the night. Raising the matter through a Privilege Motion in the post-lunch session, Devender Prasad Yadav said that it was a pre-planned action by the Railway Authorities as there were hordes of journalists and cameramen present at the platform. "In a totally drunken state, Kanpur Railway Superintendent AK Singh asked all of us to come to the railway platform and produce our rail tickets. Our coaches were checked and the train was stopped for almost half-an-hour. The railway authorities acted in such haste that some members were not even allowed to put on our clothes," Yadav alleged. He further informed the House that their tickets were first checked at Kanpur railway station at 10.30 p.m., and then in Allahabad at 12.30 a.m. Members across party lines supported the Motion saying it was a matter of MPs' privilege and it should be seriously looked into. Following the MPs' allegation, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav informed the House that he has already put Kanpur Railway Superintendent AK Singh under suspension and promised to take "more stringent" action against the "erring officials".
- May 3, 2005

24 ropeway trolley stuck tourists rescued in Mussourie (Go to Top)

     Mussourie (Uttaranchal): Twenty four tourists had a narrow escape on Sunday when two ropeway trolleys got stuck mid- air in the hill town of Mussoorie. The tourists were stuck for about four hours before Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel and local authorities rescued them. "There were 12 persons each in two trolleys. There were some children also. We have rescued everybody from one trolley. We hope to rescue the others in another two hours," Janak Kumar, an officer of ITBP, had said earlier. After they were rescued, some of the tourists described their rescue as a second birth for them. "It was around 1.45 p.m. when we got stuck. We thought that it is an electricity failure,it will be taken care of. But two hours passed by. Then people told us that it was a system failure. I was both excited as well as frightened. Then management and ITBP personnel came and helped us. We really thank them because it was a sort of second life for us," said Rajesh Pandey.
-May 1, 2005

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