Tiny air pollution particles can also increase the risk of stroke in youngsters and healthy people by damaging the inner lining of their veins and arteries, according to medical experts.

Praveen Gupta, Director, Neurology, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, said that there has been a rise of young patients in the last few years.

“We get around at least three new young patients almost every month. The number of young stroke patients has almost doubled as compared to last few years. Studies suggest that major risk factors like air pollution and smoking increase stroke incidences both in the short term and long term,” Gupta added.

According to the experts, quality of air in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) is already very toxic and such a high level of pollution increases the rate of strokes.

“High level of PM 2.5 in the air increases risk of cardiovascular mortality. International studies have linked relation between pollution and stroke risk. In India situation can be more dangerous,” Vinay Goyal, professor, Department of Neurology, AIIMS, said on the occasion of World Stroke Day.

Among early symptoms, one may face weakness on one side of the body, feel difficulty in speaking or understanding speech and seeing with one or both eyes.

Other symptoms are dizziness, loss of balance or coordination, fainting or unconsciousness, change in sensation on one side of body.

“People are unaware of the linkage of stroke with air pollution and often do not take the necessary steps to avoid it. Even after stroke attacks, people underestimate the importance of rehabilitation, which can be the key to complete recovery. For the patient who cannot go to hospitals for regular physiotherapy sessions, home healthcare is the solution,” Gaurav Thukral, COO, HealthCare at Home said.

IANS

A Lion Air Boeing passenger plane carrying 188 people on board requested air control for return, minutes after taking off from here, before crashing into the sea on Monday. A rescue and search operation is underway, officials said.

“Several pieces of Lion Air JT 610 aircraft that crashed in the waters of Karawang (was found),” Head of the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management Sutopo Purwo Nugroho tweeted.

The budget airline’s aircraft was carrying 178 adult passengers, a child, two babies with two pilots and five flight attendants, Nugroho said, adding that the National Search and Rescue Agency, Basarnas, and the Ministry of Transportation were “handling” the situation.

“Some ships tug boats were on location,” he added.

Flight JT-610, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 — a brand new type of aircraft — was on a scheduled flight to Pangkal Pinang, the main city in the Bangka Belitung Islands.

It lost contact with ground control a few minutes after take-off, and was last tracked crossing the sea, Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the national search and rescue agency said confirming the crash.

The Lion Air flight took off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta international airport at 6.20 a.m. After a short flight, it was due to arrive in Pangkal Pinang an hour later, the BBC said. But it lost contact at 6.33 a.m.

Nugroho tweeted images showing debris and personal belongings that came from the aircraft. Officials have also held a news conference to keep the kin of the victims informed about all measures being taken.

He also shared a video he said had been taken from a tugboat off Karawang, just east of Jakarta, which appeared to show debris floating in the water.

At 6.45 a.m. head of the national Search and Rescue Office M. Syaugi received a report from a tugboat, AS Jaya II, that the crew had seen the debris of a plane, The Jakarta Post reported.

“The plane had requested the air traffic control to return to base before disappearing from radar,” Transport Ministry Bambang Ervan told Xinhua by phone.

They suspected it to be the Lion Air flight floating near Tanjung Bungin in Karawang in West Java. It was spotted in the waters at an average depth between 30 and 35 meters, said Syaugi.

“At 7.15 a.m. the tugboat reported it had approached the site and the crew saw the debris of a plane,” Suyadi said. It was found about two nautical miles from Jakarta, Xinhua news agency reported.

Two other ships, a tanker and a cargo ship, near the location were approaching the site, Suyadi said, and a Basarnas rescue boat was also on its way.

A flight tracking website Flightradar24 said the aircraft had only been delivered to Lion Air in August, the BBC reported.

Aviation consultant Gerry Soejatman told the BBC the MAX 8 had been experiencing problems since it was introduced, including problems maintaining a level flight.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago, is heavily reliant on air travel, but many of its airlines have a poor safety record.

In 2013, Lion Air flight 904 crashed into the sea on landing at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport. All 108 people on board survived. In 2004, a Lion Air flight 538 from Jakarta crashed and broke up on landing at Solo City, killing 25 people, the BBC reported.

IANS

The air quality of the national capital and regions around it dropped severely, with Friday recording worse pollution than what it was a day after Dussehera.

The Air Qaulity Index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded was 361, against 331 on Thursday and 326 a day after Dussehera, all recorded “very-poor”, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

With more regions now suffering a “severe or severe-plus” air-quality, the top four most polluted regions in Delhi included Jahangirpuri in north Delhi (AQI 464) and Mundaka in west-Delhi (AQI 444), Dwarka sub-city in south-Delhi (AQI 436), Anand Vihar in east-Delhi (AQI 415) — all marked “severe”.

PM2.5 and PM10 or particles with diameter less than 2.5mm and 10mm, remained the major pollutant throughout the region, due to local factors such as vehicles, industries and dust and stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.

The average concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 across 36 region of Delhi was 207 and 405 microgrammes per cubic meters respectively, at 6 pm. A day after Dussehera, when pollution was recorded the highest last time due to Ravana effigy burning and festival rush, the average concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 at 6 pm was 181 and 388 units.

Across 48 regions in NCR on Friday, the PM2.5 and PM10 concentration was 198 and 384 units, while on Dussehera, concentrations across NCR were 181 and 388 units.

“The winds are mostly calm and directions are indefinite around Delhi due to two different western disturbances. Due to this the pollutants are not dispersing,” said Mahesh Palawat, director private weather forecasting agency Skymet.

According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the situation is not set to change any sooner, while it may only get worse towards Diwali.

“There were north-westerly winds for sometime towards afternoon on Friday, apart from that the fire at landfill site at Bhalaswa which was only doused yesterday evening, may have their effect over Delhi’s air,” Shambhavi Shukla, researcher at CSE told IANS.

IANS

At least seven elephants died of electrocution after coming in contact with a live wire near Kamalanga village in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district, a forest official said on Saturday.

Non-rectification of sagging lines and non-cabling of transmission lines led to the tragedy in Meramundali section of Dhenkanal range. The carcasses were found lying in a ditch early on Saturday.

A herd of 13 jumbos was passing through the village in Sadar Forest Range when the seven got electrocuted by a 11-KV line, which was hanging loosely, Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Jitendranath Das said.

The Dhenkanal divisional forest officer and villagers had informed the Central Electricity Supply of Odisha (CESU) about the sagging electric wire, both Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray and Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Sandeep Tripathi said.

(IANS)

Mild tremors were felt in Himachal Pradesh on Monday. No damage or casualty was reported.

“An earthquake measuring three on the Richter scale were felt for a few seconds at 9.11 a.m.,” regional Meteorological Office Director Manmohan Singh told IANS. People rushed out of their houses.

The epicentre of the quake was in Kinnaur district, bordering Tibet in China.

IANS

The recent heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh and an abnormal rise in the Satluj river’s silt levels — forcing the temporary closure of major hydro projects — has, however, not affected operations at both of JSW Energy’s hydro plants in the state, company officials said.

The Jindal group subsidiary JSW Energy operates the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo hydroelectric project and the 300 MW Baspa-II plant further upstream in Kinnaur district, which the company had acquired from Jaiprakash Power Ventures for Rs 9,700 crore three years ago.

In August, IANS had reported the temporary shutdown of the 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri plant and the 412 MW Rampur hydel project after confirming with officials of the state-run Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd.

“Both Karcham Wangtoo and Baspa are snow-fed plants with most of the dam built underground, so we were not affected by the heavy rains,” JSW Chief Operating Officer (Energy Business) Sharad Mahendra told visiting reporters here, with the surrounding peaks laced with the season’s first snowfall that had occurred overnight.

The plants currently supply Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, besides Himachal Pradesh, at an average tariff of Rs 4.39 per unit under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with these states, Mahendra said.

Himachal government is supplied 12 per cent of the total generation free of cost, according to an agreement with the state government.
Earlier this year, JSW secured a PPA of 200 MW with the Punjab State Power Corp to be supplied from the Himachal hydro plants. With this, the company’s consolidated long-term PPA proportion has currently risen to around 74 per cent.

The largest hydropower plant in the private sector, Karcham Wangtoo is a run-of-the-river project on the Satluj, while the Baspa plant is named after the upstream tributary on which it stands.

In purchasing these plants from the debt-ridden Jaypee Group, JSW Energy is looking to acquire stressed hydro projects to increase its green energy portfolio, the COO said.

“We want to increase our hydro power portfolio and we are definitely looking at various opportunities including stressed hydro projects at present,” he said. “We are evaluating a few of them in addition to reviving our own 240-MW Kutehr project.”

The Kutehr plant in Chamba district has been stalled since 2011. “Himachal Pradesh has come out with a hydro policy, which is enabling us to revive the project. We are hopeful of signing the long-term PPA with the Haryana government very soon,” Mahendra said.

Karcham Wangtoo is a 88 metre-high concrete gravity dam, 53 metres of which is below the riverbed level. Boasting of the largest underground desilting complex in India, the dam has four sedimentation chambers for excluding particles, and tunnels for mandatory release of water back into Satluj river. The project comprises of over 44 km of tunneling in the mountains.

“Unlike solar, hydro is not just cheaper, but the power can be made available anytime. Though there is no substitute to thermal power, which is the primary source, hydro is a better, cleaner and a financially lucrative option,” Mahendra said.

Yet, he said, banks are currently reluctant to fund large hydro projects.

“The lenders are also now not looking towards the power sector in a positive way in terms of lending so it will not be easy to get the funding without long-term PPAs,” he said.

Declaring all hydropower as renewable power and mandating the meeting of current renewable purchase obligations (RPOs) also through hydro would give a big boost to the sector, the official said.

A fire broke out in a chemical godown in the eastern part of the city on Monday evening, but no casualty was reported, an official said.

“The fire broke out at about 5.23 p.m. Ten fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire,” a fire brigade official said.

According to him, although the exact reason of fire is yet to be established, it seems that the huge amount of inflammable materials stacked inside the godown might have led to the fire.

No injuries have been reported so far, the official added.

IANS

The Indian Meteorological Department on Monday said that heavy rainfall is expected in coastal Karnataka on Thursday and Friday. A bulletin said that heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places over Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, and over 65 mm rainfall is expected on both days.

Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi has been already receiving more than normal rainfall. According to Karnataka State Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) data as of October 15, Dakshina Kannada has received 77% excess rainfall in the last 7 days, while Udupi has received 9% more in the same duration. However, Uttara Kannada faced a deficit of 65% over the last week.

Rainfall is also expected in Bengaluru and parts of south interior Karnataka, Malnad (central Karnataka) and some parts of north interior Karnataka.

Sunil M Gavaskar, a meteorologist at the KSNDMC, said, “We are expecting widespread moderate rain and isolated heavy rainfall along with thunderstorm activity for the next 3-4 days in coastal Karnataka. Malnad region will also have isolated places of heavy rainfall. Due to the trough over Tamil Nadu and adjacent areas and cyclonic circulation in north Karnataka, we are also expecting some rainfall in south interior Karnataka, and isolated places in north interior Karnataka region also.”

The districts which are likely to receive rainfall include Bagalkot, Belagavi, Ballari, Vijayapura, Chamarajanagara, Chikkaballapura, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Devanagari, Dharwad, Gadag, Hassan, Haveri, Kodagu, Koppal, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagara, Shimoga and Tumkur.

In Kodagu, people are still reeling under the effects of floods in August, with 674 people still in relief camps. A large part of the state is suffering from acute deficient rainfall.

Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of KSNDMC, said, “Out of 176 taluks, 45 taluks in Malnad and coastal belt are flood affected, while 86 talus we have declared as drought affected. We are also looking at declaring another 14 taluks as drought affected. So only the remaining 25 odd taluks we can say has got normal rainfall.”

The scant rainfall in these areas has largely affected agriculture. Around 9 lakh hectares of targeted sown land went unsown during the Kharif season.

“Even in the 65 lakh hectares of land that has been sown, we are experiencing crop loss in around 20 lakh hectares. This is not the final picture. We are taking further detailed surveys and further crop loss is expected,” he added.

The only bright side is that water levels of major reservoirs which are at a much higher level when compared to this time last year, with decreasing trends in groundwater levels and minor irrigation tanks.

Very severe cyclonic storm Titli, which is being referred to as a Category 2 hurricane, made an early morning landfall in Odisha’s Gopalpur before crossing the Andhra Pradesh coast on Thursday, a Home Ministry statement said.

It also said that “the wind speed is likely to decrease gradually due to the weakening of the cyclone”.

“The very severe cyclonic storm Titli crossed north Andhra Pradesh south Odisha coast near Palasa in Srikakulam district to the southwest of Gopalpur, as a very severe cyclonic storm with estimated maximum sustained surface wind speed of 140-150 kmph gusting to 165 kmph between 4.30 a.m. to 5.30 a.m.,” the statement said.

The affected districts so far include Odisha’s Ganjam, Khurdha, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Gajapati Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore.

Titli caused heavy to very heavy rainfall in Ganjam, Gajapati and Puri.

The damage of thatched and asbestos house, street lights, roads blockage due to falling of trees, was reported in Ganjam.

The Ministry said that among the preparedness measures, 30 district emergency operation centres have been activated to track and respond disaster effectively.

As many as 3 lakh people were evacuated from their homes in Odisha to other parts of the country; 1,112 relief camps have been opened for the evacuees in the shelters; and 105 pregnant women in Ganjam and 18 in Jagatsinghpur have been shifted to hospitals.

“The situation is being closely monitored at different levels,” the Ministry statement added.

The Odisha government on Wednesday directed the Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara district administrations to evacuate all those areas where cyclonic storm Titli is expected to pass through after making landfall on Thursday morning.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed the collectors of these five districts to ensure ‘zero casualty’ after the Met office said Titli has been upgraded to “severe” category.

Reviewing the already afoot evacuation process starting with Ganjam district, Patnaik said all schools, colleges and anganwadi centres would be closed on October 11 and 12. Teachers, however, would be on duty.

The students’ union poll across the state scheduled for October 11 has been cancelled, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said.

The holidays of officials have been put on hold in view of the approaching storm and subsequent heavy rainfall that was expected to be dumped across the state.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said cyclone Titli formed over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and was moving towards the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast.

It was likely to make landfall between Gopalpur in Odisha and Kalingapatanam in Andhra Pradesh early on Thursday at a wind speed of 145 kmph.

It was also very likely to intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 18 hours till early Thursday, the India Meteorological Department said.

Several districts, including Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Kandhamal, Boudh and Dhenkanal were expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall till Thursday.

The chief secretary said so far, 10 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and eight teams of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) have been deployed in various coastal and interior districts.

The state engineering departments have been asked to be ready for restoration work, especially essential services like water supply, road connectivity and electricity supply after the cyclone crosses the Odisha coast.

Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi has asked districts to ensure that 836 numbers of multi-purpose shelters are kept ready to accommodate maximum people.

IANS