Maharashtra: Death toll in landslide at tribal village in Raigad district rises to 21
Mumbai (PTI): With the recovery of five more bodies from the debris at the landslide-affected Irshalwadi village in Maharashtra's Raigad district, the toll increased to 21 on Friday, an official said.
Of the five victims whose bodies were pulled out since the morning, three were men and two women, he said.
Four children, aged between 6 months to four years and including two siblings, are among the 21 deceased, said the official.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams resumed their search and rescue operation at the landslide site, located in a hilly terrain, around 6.30 am amid rainfall in the area after suspending the exercise overnight, said the official.
Local villagers and relatives of the people trapped under the debris are assisting the rescue teams, he said.
The massive landslide hit Irshalwadi, a tribal village located on a hill slope in the coastal district, around 80km from Mumbai, on Wednesday night. Till Thursday, 16 people had perished in the tragedy.
Of the total 228 residents of the village, the bodies of 21 have been recovered, while 93 residents have been traced, he said.
However, a total of 114 villagers are yet to be located. They include those who had gone out of the village to attend a marriage or for rice plantation work, the official said.
As the remote village does not have a pucca road, earth movers and excavators could not be easily moved and hence the operation is being carried out manually, he said.
NDRF personnel had to stop their search and rescue operation at the landslide site on Thursday evening due to bad weather.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee settles 1 paisa higher to close at 94.15 against US dollar
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee settled with gains of just one paisa to close at 94.15 against the US dollar on Monday, as rising global uncertainty, escalating tensions in West Asia and soaring crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.
Forex traders said the INR/USD pair pared its initial losses, but the overall bias remains negative as FII sell-off and elevated crude oil prices restricted the gains for the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 94.25 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 94.11 and a low of 94.28 against the greenback during the day.
At the end of Monday's trading session, the rupee was quoted at 94.15, registering a gain of just 1 paisa over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee extended its losing streak for the fifth day in a row, depreciating 15 paise to close at 94.16 against the US dollar.
"The rupee snapped a five-session losing streak, rebounding in tandem with a rally across regional currencies. However, the mood remains apprehensive as the market braces for a potential RBI intervention around 94.30 and higher crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar – Senior Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
On the charts, the USDINR pair has reclaimed its upward momentum, carving out a classic bullish structure of higher highs and lows on the daily time frame, he said, adding that for the coming sessions, 93.80 serves as a support, with 94.40 acting as the primary hurdle.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent at 98.32.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 2.36 per cent at USD 107.82 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 639.42 points to settle at 77,303.63, while the Nifty surged 194.75 points to 24,092.70.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,151.48 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by USD 2.362 billion to USD 703.308 billion during the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by USD 3.825 billion to USD 700.946 billion.
