Depression to intensify into cyclone, cross Andhra coast on Monday
Bhubaneswar (PTI): The depression over the Bay of Bengal on Saturday intensified into a deep depression and is likely to become a cyclone before crossing the Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Machilipatnam on Monday, IMD said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted heavy rainfall in Odisha on Monday and Tuesday under the influence of the system.
The depression moved west-northwestwards at a speed of 18 kmph and intensified into a deep depression. It lay centred around 500 km east-southeast of Puducherry, 510 km east-southeast of Chennai, 630 km southeast of Nellore and 710 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam at 5.30 am, the IMD said in its morning bulletin.
The IMD said the system is likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm over southwest Bay of Bengal in the next 24 hours.
Thereafter, it would move northwestwards and reach westcentral Bay of Bengal off the south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts by December 4.
"Thereafter, it would move nearly northwards almost parallel and close to the south Andhra Pradesh coast and cross it between Nellore and Machilipatnam on December 5 as a cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 80-90 kmph, gusting to 100 kmph," the IMD said.
If the system intensifies into a cyclone, it will be called 'Michaung', a name suggested by Myanmar.
Under its influence, Odisha is likely to receive very heavy rain on December 4 and 5, the IMD said, while issuing yellow (be updated) and orange (be prepared) warnings.
The national weather agency has predicted that squally weather conditions, with wind speeds reaching 35-45 kmph, are likely in the coastal districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri and Jagatsinghpur on December 5.
Meanwhile, the state special relief commissioner has put seven coastal districts -- Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda and Ganjam -- on alert in view of the possible cyclone brewing in the Bay of Bengal.
The IMD said sea conditions will be very rough and advised fishermen not to venture into the deep sea till further notice.
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Mamata’s allegations on Bengal SIR baseless, exaggerated: BJP's Suvendu
Kolkata (PTI): Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Sunday termed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegations over the ongoing SIR in the state as "baseless and exaggerated", and accused her of trying to derail the electoral roll revision exercise for political reasons.
In a post on X, Adhikari also said he has written to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and claimed that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls was "exposing the rot in the voter lists - bogus entries, duplicates, and infiltrators that have been nurtured under the TMC's watch for years".
The BJP leader alleged that the SIR exercise was "damaging the TMC's electoral prospects", and that's why the CM was resorting to hysteria".
Banerjee had on Saturday written to the CEC, alleging that the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls has been turned into an exercise to exclude voters rather than correct records.
In her third letter to Kumar since the beginning of SIR, the chief minister accused the Election Commission of "political bias, insensitivity, and high-handedness" during the exercise.
“I would again reiterate that her claims are nothing but a desperate attempt to derail this crucial process, which is exposing the rot in our voter lists - bogus entries, duplicates and infiltrators that have been nurtured under TMC’s watch for years,” Adhikari alleged in the post.
In his letter to the CEC, dated January 10, the leader of the opposition described the chief minister’s objections as a “politically motivated attempt” to obstruct the SIR and termed the ECI’s move as "essential to ensure free, fair and transparent" elections in the state.
"The chief minister’s portrayal of this exercise as ‘unplanned, insensitive and inhuman’ is nothing short of a gross exaggeration, blown out of proportion to create public hysteria and shift focus from her government’s failures," the BJP leader alleged.
He claimed that the SIR exercise had "exposed vulnerabilities in the electoral rolls that threatened the ruling party’s electoral prospects", triggering what he termed “unfounded outbursts” from the state administration.
On December 16, the Election Commission published the draft electoral rolls after the first phase of the SIR, with the electorate dropping from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore following the deletion of over 58 lakh names.
The second phase, which began on December 27, involves hearings of 1.67 crore electors under scrutiny, including 1.36 crore flagged for logical discrepancies and 31 lakh whose records lack mapping.
The LoP urged the Election Commission to continue the voter list revision exercise with diligence, asserting that the SIR is a routine constitutional process and should not be politicised.
