Regional

New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) India's new airline Akasa Air on Saturday inaugurated its first flight from Chennai, the fifth city in its network, enabling the airline to offer twice-daily flights in each direction on the Chennai-Bengaluru route.

Further expanding its operations from Chennai, the airline will start one additional daily flight from September 15 on the Chennai-Mumbai route and will add an additional daily flight on the Chennai-Bengaluru route from September 26.

In addition, strengthening its pan-India network connectivity, the airline has also added a new route between Chennai and Kochi, which will commence from September 26.

This rapid expansion of cities, routes and frequencies is in line with the airline's vision of adopting a phased but rapid approach to grow its network across India.

Commenting on the maiden flight and the new route, Praveen Iyer, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Akasa Air, said, "We have achieved yet another milestone today with the launch of commercial flights from Chennai, which is the fifth city in our network. From today, we will offer double-daily flights in each direction on this new route.

"Within the next five days, we will strengthen our network from Chennai by connecting to Mumbai, the financial capital of India, which will become operational from September 15. On September 26, with the start of the Chennai-Kochi route we will further strengthen our connectivity from Chennai."

Iyer added, "The increased capacities across these key focus cities backed by affordable fares will provide our customers many options to choose from while planning their travel. We are delighted to augment our network to meet our commitment of progressively adding more cities along new sectors."

The airline started its commercial operations with two aircraft and has subsequently received four aircraft till now.

It will continue to grow its fleet with a view to establish a strong pan-India presence with a focus on key cities and metro to tier-2 and 3 route connectivity.

Akasa Air's fleet size will be 18 aircraft by the end of March 2023 and over the next four years, the airline will add 54 additional aircraft, taking its total fleet size to 72.

--IANS
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Visakhapatnam, Sep 10 (IANS) A 21-year-old student in Andhra Pradesh's Vizianagaram district had to cross a river without any conveyance to appear in an examination.

She, with the help of her brother and another family member, crossed the swollen river Champavati, risking her life.

A video of the woman wading through neck-deep water with the help of the duo has gone viral on social media.

The incident occurred in Gajapathinagaram mandal of Vizianagaram district. Taddi Kalavathi, a resident of Marrivalasa village, had to take an examination in Visakhapatnam.

The river was in spate due to heavy rains upstream, cutting off the village. There were no boats available to take her to the other side of the river.

With no other option left, the girl entered the river. As she did not know how to swim, her brother and another family member carried her on their shoulders and helped her cross the river.

--IANS
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Mysuru, Sep 10 (IANS) Tourists on a jungle safari in Kabini backwaters in Karnataka had a narrow escape when a lone tusker charged at their jeep.

The video has created a social buzz with netizens showering praises at the jeep driver Prakash for displaying exemplary courage by covering a long distance in reverse gear as the elephant charged on.

A raging elephant in an attack mode can be seen running towards the vehicle full of tourists. The driver puts on reverse gear and moves the vehicle backwards.

The trumpeting elephant even touches the vehicle twice. It then disappears into the forest leaving the tourists gasping for breath. The tourists have described it as their lifetime experience and close shave with death as well, forest officials said.

Normally, the wild elephants are used to movement of safari vehicles and tourists. However, they are unpredictable, the officials said.

The drivers are trained and experienced and they can handle any situation deep in the jungle, they stated.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 10 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has revised the tariff rates with effect from Saturday despite stiff opposition from several sectors.

The commission has also approved a 6 per cent increase in tariff rates every July.

According to the revised tariff, the price is Rs 4.50 per unit (up to 400 units). There will not be any subsidy for domestic consumers.

The 100-unit free supply for all domestic consumers will continue and those who dona¿t want the subsidy can withdraw it after registering an application with Tangedco.

A separate tariff slab, LT Tariff 1D is newly introduced for common supply for lighting, water supply, lift, etc.

Gyms, swimming pools, sewage treatment plants, water treatment plants, and fire hydrant systems in gyms in residential complexes are brought under a common supply tariff. These were earlier under commercial tariff.

Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) has introduced a peak hour system for LT tariff II-B (1), IIB(2), IIIB and V.

Tangedco will collect 25 per cent energy charges for commercial consumers through the new system.

The duration of peak hours is 6 to 10 in the morning and evening.

It may be noted that there was stiff opposition to the hike in tariff in Tamil Nadu with several organizations including MSME's and farmer associations have requested the power utility not to hike the charges as the industrial units were slowly coming back to normalcy after the lockdown associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 10 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu government's health helpline set up for providing counselling to NEET aspirants is flooded with calls from students who failed to crack the exams.

After the NEET results were announced on Wednesday midnight, the number of calls to the helpline has increased manifold.

The psychological counselling for NEET-UG aspirants began in Tamil Nadu on July 19 as several students in the state had died by suicide last year after failing to crack the exam.

Staff working with 104 helplines told IANS that callers are in a distressed state of mind and many callers wanted to know how they can cope up with the reality that they could not crack NEET.

The counsellors told IANS that most of the students who had approached them were those who had got more than 90 per cent marks in core science subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Biology in their Tamil Nadu plus two board examinations.

A counsellor from 104 helpline who is attending to calls said: "Most of the students who are calling have been doing consistently good in academics and scoring high marks in core science subjects. However, they failed to clear the test and hence are dejected and in a highly disturbed and distressed state of mind."

She said that they feel that all their studies went in vain and that there was no other option other than ending their life. It may be noted that 1,32,167 students appeared for NEET-UG examinations from Tamil Nadu this year and of which 67,787 qualified.

The helpline staff also said that they had tried to reach out to the 19-year-old girl from Ambattur in Chennai who died by suicide immediately after the results were out.

The state government is trying to extend the services of the helpline as the number of distress calls are increasing.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 10 (IANS) Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, stressed on the importance of passengers in the rear seat wearing seatbelt while travelling in four-wheelers.

Referring to the tragic death of industrialist Cyrus Mistry, who died in a road accident near Mumbai on Sunday, Gadkari said, "I have made legal provisions in this regard."

Mistry, former Tata Sons Chairman, was sitting in the back seat and was not wearing a seatbelt when his speeding Mercedes crashed into a divider in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference here, Gadkari said that provisions are being be made to introduce a seat belt alarm system for rear seats, just like the driver's seat.

"Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has called me three times from London to start a campaign in the backdrop of the death of Cyrus Mistry," Gadkari said.

"Though wearing seatbelt is mandatory for those sitting in the rear seat of a car, it is not followed. Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar along with many cricketers have agreed to campaign for this free of cost," Gadkari said.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 9 (IANS) Karnataka has abundant mineral deposits and the state has taken necessary steps to explore them, but to get better results, the cooperation of the Union Mines Ministry and the National Mineral Exploration Trust is needed, state Mines and Geology Minister Halappa Achar said on Friday.

Addressing the National Mining Ministers Conference, which began in Hyderabad on Friday he said after independence, no government has ever taken such transparent and environment-friendly measures in the mining sector as it.

"These reforms have helped the state government to collect more revenue. Scientific and environment-friendly measures have also contributed to the development of the mining sector of the states," he said.

Achar said there are abundant opportunities for mining in his state. "It ranks first in limestone mining and second in iron ore mining in the country.

"The state government has collected a revenue of Rs 6,308 crore in 2021-22. In the current year, till July, revenue of Rs 1,425 crore has been collected and this time we are expecting a revenue of Rs 6,500 crore. Since 2015, there has been a lot of development in our state on the back of the improvement in the mining sector. There are more mineral deposits in the state and more emphasis needs to be given to their exploration."

The Minister said Karnataka has already recruited 113 geologists but to achieve further progress the cooperation of the Union Mines Ministry and the Central Mineral Exploration Trust is required, and asked the Centre to take necessary measures in this regard.

Noting that Karnataka secured the third position in the National Mineral Development Awards last year, he said: "We are aiming to achieve the top position by adopting new aspects in the Mines Department."

At the Conference, the state was appreciated for the new technology adopted in preventing illegal mining. Also, by adopting reforms in the central mining policy, it was also praised for being second in the country in terms of auctioning mining blocks.

Union Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi, Mines Ministers from many states and senior officials of the Mines Ministry were present in the programme.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 9 (IANS) Mysuru prince Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar has remembered late Queen Elizabeth's visit to Bengaluru in her younger days and shared a video of her visit on his social media.

Yaduveer stated: "The Buckingham Palace released a statement confirming the passing of H.M The Queen Elizabeth. We convey our condolences."

"We remember her visit to Bangalore where she toured the city and the Lalbagh Gardens alongside my grandfather H.H Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar, Maharaja of Mysore."

The well shot video shows Queen Elizabeth alighting the aircraft with queenly demeanour and poise, and meeting the senior Wadiyar.

The video also shows how thousands of people gathered on either sides of the road and cheered for her. Queen Elizabeth tours the Lalbagh botanical garden in the city and waters the plant.

Sources said that the video was shot during her visit in 1950, when Late Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar was the Governor of Karnataka. Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar, a lover of democracy, readily agreed for merger with the Indian Union.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Sep 9 (IANS) The secondary education department in Uttar Pradesh has decided to provide online spoken English training to teachers of government colleges.

This is an attempt to strengthen English education in the state.

The course is designed to provide an environment of English language and give ample practice of listening and speaking the English language.

The course will benefit 30,000 teachers and over one crore students enrolled in UP secondary schools from class nine to 12.

Developed by the English Language Teaching Institute (ELTI), Prayagraj, a unit of UP State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), the online English course has 132 modules of 10 minutes each.

ELTI principal Skand Shukla said, "This course is different from the existing courses in the private sector in providing knowledge of essential grammar, syntax, common errors and conversation-practices and also following the general Indian English based on the British pronunciation."

The modules are interactive in nature and there is an assessment at the end of each course module.

Vikas Srivastava, deputy director, said, "With English as the world language, it is important to make teachers proficient. The spoken English course will be beneficial to teachers from across the streams - science, commerce and humanities. "

Secondary education director Sarita Tiwari has asked district inspectors of schools (DIOS) and joint directors to ensure English teachers in their districts and divisions undergo the training.

--IANS
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Patna, Sep 9 (IANS) After the three day visit to Delhi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday returned to Patna and went straight away to Rabri Devi's residence to meet former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Kumar believes that his Delhi visit was successful. He also said that the BJP is trying to destroy the country.

"I am doing my job to unite the opposition leaders and my efforts will continue. I firmly believe that the opposition leaders will be united soon and every one will contribute in fighting against the BJP. The decision on the Prime Ministerial candidate will be final in two to three months. At present, I am not the Prime Ministerial candidate of the opposition parties," Kumar said.

"We believe in work and are doing the development works in Bihar. The fertility rate of Bihar was 4.3 in the beginning when I took charge of Bihar, and now it has reached to 2.9 due to the education of girls. We will also work for the country. We work, we do not do publicity," Kumar said.

"BJP is now a changed party. It is not the BJP, which it used to be during Atal Ji's day. The policies and narratives of BJP has changed now," he said.

After returning to Patna, Kumar apprised Lalu Yadav about the outcome of meetings with different opposition leaders in Delhi.

--IANS
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