Kumod Verma, TNN | Jun 13, 2013, 05.59 PM IST

PATNA: Three passengers were killed and over half a dozen injured when about a hundred Maoists attacked Dhanbad-Patna Intercity Express (13331) between Bhalui and Kundhar halts in Jamui district of Bihar falling under Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) on Thursday afternoon.

Sarang Dastane, TNN | Jun 12, 2013, 02.06 AM IST

PUNE: Good spells of rain have come as a relief to the people in drought-hit rural areas of the Pune division, with the demand for water tankers registering a decline. Fewer villages are now demanding tankers to meet their daily drinking water requirement.

Officials from the revenue department said that the demand will further decrease if the rural parts continue to receive rainfall for another week.

KURNOOL: Several parts of the state on Sunday received heavy rainfall bringing down the temperature and killing five people in Guntur district in the accompanying thunderbolt. Five others, including four in Hyderabad, were injured as lightning struck them.

TNN | May 29, 2013, 05.40 AM IST

PUNE: The state government has decided to implement water conservation projects in a cluster of 10-15 drought-prone gram panchayats under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Under the scheme, a few pilot projects will be taken up soon at locations near Pune, Thane, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Buldhana, Washim, Yavatmal, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Hingoli, Latur, Beed and Osmanabad.

TNN | May 28, 2013, 05.09 AM IST

HYDERABAD: With the death toll due to the heat wave in the state crossing the 500 mark, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has decided to recommend to the Union home ministry to give compensation to the victims under the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). NDMA vice-chairman Marri Shashidar Reddy told TOI on Monday that he had spoken to the Union home ministry as well as the Prime Minister urging them to include heat wave in the list of natural disasters.

Madan Kumar, TNN | May 25, 2013, 03.13 AM IST

PATNA: Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) on Friday decided to take up more than 70,000 government schools, highest in any state across the country, under the Mukhya Mantri Vidyalaya Suraksha Yojna to train their students and teachers in safety measures to be taken during any calamity, especially earthquake, flood and fire incidents.

Swati Deshpande, TNN | May 27, 2013, 07.25 AM IST

MUMBAI: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on May 25 announced that Dena Bank has adopted 32 drought affected villages and provided 101 drinking water storage tanks in Aurangabad and Nashik districts in Maharashtra.

The Finance Minister was at the platinum jubilee celebrations of Dena Bank. Dena Bank's Chairman & Managing Director Ashwani Kumar and Executive Director A. K. Dutt welcoming the minister launched a host of new services for consumers.

TNN | May 23, 2013, 05.19 AM IST

MUMBAI: The state government ask governor K Sankarnarayanan to partially lift the stay imposed on taking up new irrigation projects. The proposal for lifting the stay was discussed at the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: If there is a natural calamity, say another tsunami, the state is just not equipped to handle it. A report of the Comptroller and Audit General of India, the premier auditing agency, which was tabled in the legislative assembly on Wednesday, said as much. "The emergency operation centres (EOCs) are not in a state of readiness...These EOCs, which are the nerve centres of early warning system, were non-functional and not in a state of operational readiness," said the CAG report.