Robbers hijacked two trucks from Pallikonda toll on National Highway

VELLORE: Highway robbers have allegedly hijacked two trucks from Pallikonda on  national highway connecting Chennai and Bengaluru after assaulting and dumping the drivers off the vehicles before escaping.

As Sources said both the trucks were containing empty cartons from Hosur to a destination in Andhra Pradesh on Monday night when they were intercepted by gangs of highway robbers near the toll plaza in Pallikonda.

Victim A Selvakumar, 51, of Virudnagar, and M Kannadasan, 45, of Manaparai in Tiruchy district, were driving the trucks. Dacoits waylaid the vehicles and assaulted the drivers before tying them with ropes and pushing them under the seat.

After few hours, Selvakumar was thrown off the truck at Kaveripakkam while Kannadasan was thrown off near Wallajah, sources said, adding they managed to reach local hospitals before informing the cops of the incident.

Pallikonda police are holding investigations on the incident. “We are holding investigations. Cases will be registered on the incidents based on complaints received from the drivers,” as Police officer said on Tuesday. Robbers have snatched away cellphones and cash from the drivers.

Pulwama attack car was resold seven times

NEW DELHI: As taking help from forensic experts and Maruti engineers, investigators pieced together remnants of the Eeco car which is used in the Pulwama attack from the blast site in Lethpura, zeroed in on Sajjad Bhat, Jaish member who had bought the vehicle 10 days before the strike.

Ascertaining that it was a Maruti Eeco car, as they used its chassis number MA3ERLF1SOO183735 and engine number G12BN164140 to trace its original owner. A photograph circulating on social media introduces Bhat as a resident of Marhama Sangam in Islamabad , NIA confirmed that he was a resident of Bijbehara in Anantnag district.

The Bhat’s father, Mohammad Maqbool Bhat , he is in his fifties and was arrested for engineering violence in the wake of terrorist Burhan Wani’s killing. Has been questioned by the investigators for leads on his son’s associates and others in his circle of friends. Bhat’s mother is from Tral, Burhan Wani’s hometown which was hit by violence after his killing.

NIA said one Jaleel Haqani had bought the Eeco car in 2011 but he sold it to another person after using it for some time. After its first purchase, the car was resold seven times. Antecedents of the car’s previous six owners were verified by the agency but their involvement in the terror attack was not found.

Surgical Strike 2.0 | Airforce crosses LOC | Air strike

Surgical Strikes 2.0: Twelve Indian Force Mirage-2000 jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) early morning and destroyed terror camps of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. Air strike, which has been dubbed surgical strikes 2.0, comes two weeks after a terror attack on CRPF solidiers in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.

As Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed the air strike and said a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. Camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar. Government said the camp was located on a hilltop, deep in a forest, and far away from any civilian presence.
As per CNN-News18 that the air force dropped 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs on the terror camp. PM Narendra Modi chaired a high-level Cabinet Committee on Security meeting in New Delhi along with Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Arun Jaitley on the attack.  Attack, which the government said was pre-emptive action in the face of more fidayeen strikes, took place at 3:30 am.

India put all IAF bases in the western sector on maximum alert after the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

Retaliation has come days after the Pulwama attack, where 40 CRPF personnel were killed. Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack. The incident had escalated tensions between the two neighbours, with New Delhi vowing to take stern action against Islamabad.

As Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations Major-General Asif Ghafoor had tweeted saying that a "payload was released in haste, which fell near Balakot". However, no casualties or damage was reported, he added.

Adani Group enters into airports business

Infrastructure company, Adani Group, has made a splash into the airports business by emerging the highest bidder for five of the six non-metro airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) being privatised by the Central Government.

Adani Group placed the highest price bids for Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram airports, when bids were opened today, sources said.

Bid for the Guwahati airport could not be opened due to a stay granted by the Guwahati High Court against the privatisation process, as the person said, asking not to be named because the bid results have not been made public yet.

The AAI has sought bids for the operation and management of existing airport assets as well as their upgradation and development of additional air-side terminals, city-side and land-side infrastructure for 50 years for Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram airports under a single stage bidding process.

Winning bid is decided on the basis of the highest monthly per-passenger fee that the concessionaire will offer to the AAI. As this is a departure from the revenue-sharing model that the AAI had adopted in the existing privatized airports such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Adani Group pipped other contenders such as GMR Group, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), Fairfax India Holdings Corporation, Australia’s AMP Capital, PNC Infratech Ltd and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (KSIDC) to become the highest bidder for the airport contracts.

Adani Group quoted a per passenger fee of Rs 168 for the Thiruvananthapuram airport and the price submitted by KSIDC did not come with the ten per cent of the highest bid for the Kerala government owned firm to get the benefit of the right of first refusal (RoFR).

AAI and the Adani Group could not be reached immediately for comments.

GST on real estate slashed – will there be any impact on prices?

News behalf of homebuyers, government has roled out one more pre-election sop by slashing the Goods & Services Tax (GST) rate on properties under construction from 18 percent (effective GST of 12 percent and 6 percent abatement for land) to 5 percent. Council also cut GST rate on affordable housing to a percent  from the current 8 percent and expanded the scope of affordable housing to units costing up to Rs 45 lakh and measuring 60 square metres (earlier 30 sq m) in metros and 90 sq m (earlier 60 sq m) in non-metro locations.

Builders will not be able to claim input tax credit. This is interesting as the final benefit depends on whether the benefit of GST rate cut outweighs the negative of no input tax credit as builders were rarely passing on the benefit of input tax credit to homebuyers.

For example of the Mumbai market, construction cost is typically around 40 percent. Input tax credit claimable was 7.2 percent and GST rate on the project was 12 percent, resulting in a positive spread of 4.8 percent. The abolition of input tax credit, tax paid on inputs is still 7.2 percent and GST rate is 5 percent, resulting in a negative spread. So, it remains to be seen if the benefits are passed on or the builder resorts to a small price hike. With view of the oversupply in the market, hiking prices may not be an option, resulting in a squeezing of margins for developers.

Market where the construction cost is a higher share of project cost, the economics is worse. For instance, if the construction cost was 80 percent of project cost, the input tax credit was 14.4 percent, and with a GST of 12 percent, there was a negative spread of 2.4 percent. With the slashing of GST rate to 5 percent, the spread is significantly negative.

Buyers, therefore, should expect no relief on final prices although they will now pay an effectively lower GST, since in the earlier regime the benefit of input tax credit was not passed on.

To affordable housing, the earlier input tax credit was 8 percent and the GST rate was also 8 percent. With the abolition of input tax credit, the benefit of 8 percent is gone, the new GST rate is a percent, again resulting in a negative spread for the developer and could lead to a small price hike.

Remains to be seen, in the face of the oversupply in the market, how developers react to the announcement. Given that availability of credit is increasingly becoming an issue for the real estate sector, resorting to price hike while clearing unsold inventory may not be an option. As we do not see this as fundamentally altering the stressed scenario of the real estate market and therefore the linkage to the rest of the economy would be at most limited.

Massive Fire accident In Chennai Parking Lot, about 176 Cars Burnt Down

Chennai: More than 176 cars were gutted this afternoon after a fire engulfed a parking lot on the outskirts of Chennai. The fire may have spread due to dry grass catching fire, fanned by winds.

Fire broke out near the Sri Ramachandra Medical College around 2 pm. 10 fire tenders were sent in to extinguish the fire.

These cars were parked by a private company over the last one year. Some are new cars. The fire has been extinguished but smoke is still coming."


Incident comes just a day after a similar fire gutted around 300 cars near the Bengaluru air show venue. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Fire brigade and Rapid Action Force and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams doused the blaze in about 40 minutes after it was noticed around noon.

Indian Air Force has ordered a Court of Inquiry into the cause of the fire. Defence Minister Niramala Sitharaman visited the spot on Sunday.

Officials, who briefed Ms Sitharaman on Sunday, told her that the probable cause of the incident was fire from an overheated silencer of one of the parked cars and fanned by strong wings, it spread quickly.

Fire accident @ Bandipur kills wild animals, destroys 400 acres of forest land

Major fire accident in Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve destroyed over 400 acres of forest land and killed hundreds of wild animals on Saturday. Foresters suspect the fire was an act of sabotage.

As Dry grass and lantana weed, present across the forest, made fire spread rapidly even into the core forest areas within a few minutes. Strong wind gave foresters, firemen, Wildlife

volunteers and villagers a tough time in bringing the blaze under control. Fire was first noticed near Mangala, Shivapura and Hundipura on Friday.

Foresters closing the checkpost gate at Melkammanahalli, the entrance to Bandipur Tiger Reserve on the Mysuru-Ooty highway, weekend travellers en route to Ooty were stranded. While few waited for foresters to open the gate, others returned to Mysuru.

Last few years, major forest fires have occurred in Bandipur in the month of February in 2017, 2016 and 2014 destroying thousands of acres of wooded area in Bandipur.

Highest ever T20 total by Afghanistan after Hazratullah Zazai's 162

Afghanistan broke following records: 

1. Second fastest 100 in a T20I 

2. Most sixes in a T20I (Player) 

3. Most sixes in a T20I (Team) 

4. Highest ever partnership in T20 

5. 2nd best individual score in T20I 

6. Highest ever total in a T20

History created by Afghanistan against Ireland in their second Twenty20 International at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun, Uttarakhand on Saturday.

Afghanistan scored 278 for the loss of three wickets from 20 overs, to register the highest-ever total in T20s. They crossed Australia's record score of 263/3 which they achieved back in 2016 against Sri Lanka.

The bigman Hazratullah Zazai was star with the bat for Afghanistan, he scored 162 runs from just 62 balls. On his way to the huge score, Zazai hit 11 fours and 16 sixes. Zazai hence scored 140 runs in just boundaries alone.

Only one West Indian Chris Gayle has managed to score more runs in just boundaries (154) in a T20 innings, which was achieved in the IPL when he blasted an unbeaten 175 for Royal challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors India in Bengaluru on April 23, 2013.

Fact, Afghanistan's 278 is the highest ever total in a T20 match, beating RCB's 263 for 5 against Pune in that same match.

The man Zazai became the first player from Afghanistan to score 150 or more runs, and his 236-run opening stand with Usman Ghani, who contributed 73 runs from 48 balls - including 7 fours and three sixes, became the highest partnership in T20Is, They beat 223-run stand between Australia's Aaron Finch and Darcy Short.

With response, Ireland ended with 194 for 6 with skipper Paul Stirling (91 off 50) being with the top-scorer. Star spinner Rashid Khan ended with four wickets, conceding 25 runs in four overs.

Afghanistan bagged the three-match T20I series, having won the first game by five wickets. Final game will be played on Sunday. Both teams will also play five ODIs and one Test after the T20 series.

Ambur Tannery ordered to shut as per the CPCB

Ambur : Second tannery of T Abdul Wahid (TAW) Tanneries, which is one of the largest exporters of leather to America and Europe, has been ordered to shut down with immediate effect by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Has also levied a fine of `11.20 lakh for polluting a well near the effluent treatment plant and operating without valid consents, under Water Act and Air Act, which expired two years ago.

Tannery, located in Solur village at Ambur in Vellore, also been found to be operating without valid authorisation under the Hazardous Waste Management Rules which expired in June 2016 by a team of scientists from CPCB’s regional directorate in Bengaluru. TAW tannery engineer said that they have put in the application before the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), seeking consent under the Air and Water Acts. “Once we get the approval, the authorisation under Hazardous waste, which expired in 2016, will automatically be given,” he said.

Also said that the tannery will be shut down as per the CPCB’s directive. This is the second tannery which has been asked to be shut down by CPCB. The first tannery located at the same place, was asked to shut down last month as it also did not have consent from TNPCB to operate after the earlier Consent to Operate expired on March 31, 2018.

CPCB said that the tannery has to pay an environmental compensation of `11.20 lakh at `20,000 per day with effect from December 20, 2018 to February 20, 2019, while directing the State electricity board to cut down power supply with immediate effect. Has also asked the TNPCB chairman to ensure compliance.

Board took the action after a team of scientists from CPCB’s regional directorate in Bengaluru found that the water of the open well, located close to the effluent treatment plant of the tannery which is engaged in processing raw hides to finished leather, is black in colour. This indicates discharge or mixing of untreated effluents with well water. Also found that the tannery does not maintain data on water consumption, CPCB stated.


Report also stated that the unit has not disposed any solid waste after 2016 and also the effluent is bypassed without any treatment. Has sought remedial action by TAW which includes installation of piezometric wells as per ground water gradient around the area. Has also asked the industry to submit a ground water remediation plan as well as ensure complete treatment of trade effluent and maintain records on fresh water consumption, waste water generation and solid wastes generation and disposal.

Source:http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2019/feb/23/tannery-in-ambur-ordered-to-shut-1942614.html

Fire accident Near Bengaluru Air Show,| 300 Vehicles On Fire, Cigarette Could Be Cause

Bangalore: Almost 300 vehicles have been destroyed in a big fire at the parking lot of the venue of the air show in Bengaluru this afternoon. Higher Officials say the cause of the fire could be a lit cigarette that was disposed on the grass in the open field.
Very Huge plumes of thick black smoke could be seen in the sky near the Yelahanka air base in north Bengaluru, where about a hundred aircraft are parked for the biennial Aero India 2019 event.

Sr. Police officer MN Reddi said the fire spread rapidly due to dry grass and strong winds. Hundreds of vehicles, including two-wheelers and cars, were seen parked in files in the open ground, surrounded by fire.

Fire, which started at 11:55 am, has been brought under control and no injuries have been reported.

As "Fire in the open field parking lot of aero show. Nearly 20 cars burnt. Fire fighting operations by Chief Fire Officer and 10 water tenders staff under way (sic)," Mr Reddi tweeted.

Defence Ministry statement said the parking area is located well away from the venue, on the other side of the highway.

"IAF immediately launched one helicopter for aerial assessment,  helicopter assisted by providing effective directions to fight the fire. Fire was brought under control by deploying more than 12 fire fighting vehicles," the statement said.

Court of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of fire, the Defence Ministry added.

Air show was temporarily suspended once the fire spread and no planes took off from the airbase till the fire was completely doused.

This incident comes less than a week after two jets of the Indian Air Force's Suryakiran Aerobatic Team crashed after a mid-air collision over the air base. As one of the three pilots in the crash had died.

Five-day air show started on Wednesday and will conclude tomorrow.