I-T dept recovers Rs 8 crore, 3 kg gold in raids on MP businessmen

 The Income-Tax department has recovered Rs 8 crore in cash and three kilogram gold besides incriminating documents in raids on the premises of businessman Shankar Rai and his brothers in MP

The Income-Tax department has recovered Rs 8 crore in cash and three kilogram gold besides incriminating documents in raids on the premises of businessman Shankar Rai and his brothers in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district, an official said on Friday.

The raids, which began on early Thursday, were still continuing, Income Tax (Investigations) Jabalpur circle joint commissioner Munmun Sharma told PTI. During searches so far, Rs 8 crore in cash has been recovered. Of this, Rs 1 crore was found hidden in a water container, the official said. Besides, gold weighing three kilogram has been recovered, she said.

The official said I-T sleuths have found incriminating documents related to the wealth amassed by the Rai brothers. The papers found during the searches suggest the Rais had bagged contracts of liquor shops and were running luxury buses in the names of their staffers, she added. Sharma said the I-T department has announced a cash reward of Rs 10,000 for anyone who provides information to them regarding the wealth of Shankar Rai and his brothers….Continue

Odisha floods: Fire Service team rescues 115, distribute relief materials

Teams of Odisha Fire Service, operating in Khordha and Puri district during the floods, have rescued a total of 115 persons as of September

Teams of Odisha Fire Service, operating in Khordha and Puri district during the floods, have rescued a total of 115 persons as of September 1. As per Directorate of Odisha Fire Services, 8 teams are in operation and on stand-by with powerboats and rescue gears to the flood-affected districts for rescue and relief operations.Apart from this, additional 12 teams are kept in standby at Odisha Fire and Disaster Response Institute, Naraj, Cuttack.

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Six rescue teams deployed in Kanas block have rescued 62 persons from the marooned villages of Badalpur, Nuasahi, Haldipada, Badaput, and other nearby villages under the Puri district. The same team also rescued an old man from the marooned village of Badlapur under Kanas block. The Khordha fire service team has rescued 50 persons from the marooned village of Saradhapur.All the teams involved in rescue have also taken an active part in distributing relief materials…

Most cities in India are turning into ‘urban heat islands’, finds study

Conservation and expansion of green areas, and preservation of water bodies in and around cities could be an effective strategy to curb the effects of urban heat islands

A team of researchers from the IIT Kharagpur has found that most cities in the country are turning into “urban heat islands” in all seasons during day and night, officials said. In their study, researchers from the Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) of the IIT-KGP and its Architecture and Regional Planning department showed that most big cities in the country with population more than one million have recorded rise in mercury level during daytime while showing an increasing trend in the night hours.

The study, ‘Anthropogenic forcing exacerbating the urban heat islands in India’, noted that the relatively warmer temperatures in urban areas, compared to suburbs, have potential health hazards due to heat waves apart from pollution, an IIT KGP statement said on Friday. “Our research is a detailed and careful analysis of urban heat islands of India, which is the difference between urban and surrounding rural land surface temperatures, across all seasons in 44 major cities from 2001 to 2017,” Professor Arun Chakraborty, one of the researchers, said.

He further said, “For the first time, we have found evidence of mean daytime temperature of Surface Urban Heat Island (UHI Intensity) going up to 2C for most cities, as analysed from satellite temperature measurements in monsoon and post-monsoon periods.” In Kolkata, Pune and Guwahati where the urban areas are surrounded by large green cover in suburban regions, there is “an enhanced cooling effect on surface” in suburban areas during daytime as against cities in arid regions, the researchers said…