-PTI BHUBANESWAR: Cautious after the devastation in Uttarakhand, Odisha government on Wednesday asked all district collectors to ensure that no brick kiln operated on river beds. Revenue and disaster management minister S N Patro said the flood situation in Uttarakhand had worsened due to large constructions on the river banks and flouting of environmental laws. In Odisha, unscrupulous persons were setting up unauthorised brick kilns along the Rivers which lead to erosion of...

-The Times of India JORHAT: Heavy and incessant rainfall in hills of Arunachal Pradesh has triggered the second wave of flood in Assam. More than 25 villages in Dhemaji district bordering Arunachal Pradesh have been hit by flood till Wednesday. No casualty has been reported yet. The villages have been affected by the rising waters of the Jiadhol and Gai Rivers since Tuesday night. The water level of both the Rivers swelled and...

-The Hindu While the focus is on pilgrims, nobody is talking about the fate of boys and men who came from their villages in the Mandakini valley to earn during the yatri season It is one week since Uttarakhand's worst disaster in living memory. Flash floods resulting from extremely intense rainfall swept away mountainsides, villages and towns, thousands of people, animals, agricultural fields, irrigation canals, domestic water sources, dams, roads, bridges, and...

-IANS NEW DELHI: While thousands have suffered the fury of floods in Uttarakhand, experts say worse tragedies may strike the region unless the rampant violation of the Himalayan state's sensitive ecology is checked. Environmentalists blamed the volume of the disaster on the dams, indiscriminate construction, uncontrolled tourism and ignorance about the fragile ecology of the area. Experts have called for an immediate halt to unchecked tourism, especially religious tourism, and haphazard construction. "The...

-The Hindu Bangalore: The State government has directed the Chief Executive Officers of Raichur and Yadgir zilla panchayats to seal over 100 borewells in 63 villages where the arsenic level in groundwater is higher than the permissible limit, by June 30. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H.K. Patil told presspersons on Friday that water in 44 villages in Manvi, Lingsugur, Deodurga and Sindhanur taluks of Raichur district, and 19 villages in...