Landslide on Kedarnath route: Death toll climbs to five
Rudraprayag (U'khand) (PTI): Bodies of four more pilgrims, including three women, were recovered on Tuesday from the debris of a landslide that occurred on the Kedarnath highway, taking the toll in the incident to five, officials said on Tuesday.
The rescue operation, which was resumed at 5 am, concluded at 7.30 am, Ryudraprayag Superintendent of Police Akshay Konde told PTI.
The landslide occurred at Mankutiya along the five-km stretch between Sonprayag and Gaurikund at around 7.20 pm on Monday while a group of pilgrims was returning on foot from Kedarnath.
Traffic along the route had been restored only two-three days back after a 150-metre damaged stretch of the road was repaired. It had been demolished in a massive landslide on July 31 triggered by heavy rain.
Soon after the landslide on Monday, State Disaster Response Fund and National Disaster Response Fund personnel had launched a rescue operation and retrieved body of a pilgrim identified as Gopal (50) from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh besides rescuing three other pilgrims who were rushed to Sonprayag in an ambulance.
The injured pilgrims were identified as Jeewach Tiwari from Nepal, Manpreet Singh from West Bengal and Chagan Lal from Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh
The rescue operation hampered by continuing rain and prevailing darkness had to be suspended on Monday night.
As rescue efforts were resumed on Tuesday morning, bodies of four more pilgrims, including three women, were pulled out of the debris.
The pilgrims were identified as Durgabai Khapar (50) from Ghat district in Madhya Pradesh, Titli Devi (70) from Vaidehi village of Nepal's Dhanwa district, Saman Bai (50) from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh and Bharat Bhai Niralal (52) from Surat, Gujarat.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident.
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Congress wins 18 seats in Assam; 17 Muslim candidates among victors
Guwahati: The Indian National Congress has secured victory in 18 Assembly constituencies in Assam, according to the latest results.
Out of the 18 winning candidates, 17 are from the Muslim community. The only non-Muslim candidate among the winners is Dr. Joy Prakash Das, who won from the Nowboicha constituency.
The constituencies where Congress candidates emerged victorious include Parbatjhora, Gauripur, Dhubri, Birsing Jarua, Jaleshwar, Goalpara East, Srijangram, Chenga, Pakabetbari, Chamaria, Lahorighat, Rupahihat, Samaguri, Nowboicha, Sonai, Algapur-Katlicherra, Karimganj North, and Karimganj South.
Among the winners are MD Ashraful Islam Sheikh from Parbatjhora, Abdus Sobahan Ali Sarkar from Gauripur, Baby Begum from Dhubri, Wazed Ali Choudhury from Birsing Jarua, and Aftab Uddin Mollah from Jaleshwar.
Other winners include Abul Kalam Rasheed Alam from Goalpara East, MD. Nurul Islam from Srijangram, Abdur Rahim Ahmed from Chenga, Jakir Hussain Sikdar from Pakabetbari, Rekibuddin Ahmed from Chamaria, Dr Asif Mohammad Nazar from Lahorighat, Nurul Huda from Rupahihat, Tanzil Hussain from Samaguri, Aminul Haque Laskar from Sonai, Zubair Anam Mazumder from Algapur-Katlicherra, Jakaria Ahmed from Karimganj North, and Aminur Rashid Choudhury from Karimganj South.
