Six districts affected in Odisha nor'wester
Bhubaneswar, May 3: Three persons were killed on Wednesday and six districts affected in the nor'wester in Odisha, said an official on Thursday.
Deputy Relief Commissioner Prabhat Ranjan Mohapatra said while two persons were killed after tree branches fell on them in Balasore and Bargarh districts during the rain, another person was killed in a wall collapse in Mayurbhanj district in the squall last night.
A report from Malkangiri district said that three persons were injured in the nor'wester accompanied by heavy rain, he said.
He said the government had received preliminary reports from six districts -- Bargarh, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Balasore, Sonepur and Mayurbhanj -- so far on the impact of unseasonal rain.
"Major damage to crops and houses have been reported in the six districts and Bargarh remains the worst hit," said the official.
The government has provided a compensation amount of Rs 5.31 lakh to the families for construction of houses in Mayurbhanj district.
Other districts had been asked to submit reports on major damages due to the unseasonal rain, he added.
"The crop loss assessment has not been done yet as it is just the initial report," Mahapatra added.
According to preliminary reports, in all 456 people died due to lightning during 2017-18.
Lightning has become a major disaster in the state that claims more than 400 human lives on an average every year.
In comparison to other natural calamities that cause more economic losses, the death toll due to lightning is much higher in Odisha. The loss of 456 lives in 2017-18 is a 15 per cent increase over that of the last year, according to an official.
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Google Maps lands Assam Police in Nagaland, locals hold them captive mistaking them for criminals
Guwahati, Jan 8: A 16-member team of the Assam Police inadvertently strayed into Nagaland's Mokokchung district during a raid while they were following directions on Google Maps, and was attacked by locals and held captive overnight, an official said on Wednesday.
According to a senior official of Assam Police, the incident occurred on Tuesday night when a team of the Jorhat District Police was carrying out a raid to apprehend an accused.
"It was a tea garden area, which was shown in Assam on Google Maps. However, it was actually inside Nagaland. The team went inside Nagaland in pursuit of the criminal due to confusion and misleading guidance on GPS," he said.
The locals thought the Assam Police team to be some miscreants carrying sophisticated arms and detained them, he said.
"Of the 16 personnel, only three were in uniform and the rest were in civil dress. This also led to confusion among the locals. They also attacked the team and one of our personnel was injured," he added.
Upon receiving the information of the hostile situation in Nagaland, the Jorhat Police immediately contacted Mokokchung Superintendent of Police, who sent a team to the spot to rescue the Assam Police personnel.
"The locals then realised that it was a genuine police team from Assam and released five members, including the injured person.
"They, however, held the remaining 11 persons as captives overnight. They were released in the morning and reached Jorhat later," the official said.
