1. Rare Lightning Death in Kolkata: Cricketer Loses Life
Lightning bolts robbed a young life and caused extensive damage to a building in south Kolkata on Sunday, 10 June. While lightning deaths aren’t uncommon in rural areas in the state, they are quite unusual in the city, where most people are inside earthed steeland-cement buildings or vehicles, which dissipate the charge harmlessly.
A bolt of lightning struck budding cricketer Debobrata Pal, 21, at Vivekananda Park, off Southern Avenue, even as he was walking back to his tent after wrapping up practice at 1.45 pm. He died on the way to hospital. Around the same time, another bolt struck a house on Ekdalia Road near Gariahat. It hit a running air-conditioner, which sparked a fire that gutted the second floor of the three-storey building. Both bolts struck while it hadn’t been raining.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. Two Teenagers Killed Tagore Park Scholar During Robbery, Say Cops
Two teenagers were arrested for killing National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organisation research scholar — Sheila Choudhury, 56 — and looting Rs 7,000 from her Tagore Park apartment on Saturday, 9 June.
Police said it appeared to be a murder for gain. The cops said the suspects — 18-year-old cleaner Sambhu Kayal who passed HS last Friday and the 15-year-old son of a former domestic help — had access to the victim’s apartment. The duo reportedly entered her flat around noon. Kayal first banged the woman’s head thrice on a pillar before she fell on the floor unconscious. While the minor held her legs, Kayal smothered her with a pillow.
Police first arrested Kayal and based on his statements, nabbed the minor from the same neighbourhood on Sunday evening. “It appears to be a murder for gain. The duo took Rs 7,000 and rummaged through her apartment,” said an officer of Kasba police station.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. India’s 1st Woman Land Rover Coach Keeps Family Legacy Alive
For India’s first woman Land Rover trainer Samantha Dong (28), it’s all about keeping the family legacy alive. Samantha had assured her grandfather Lakpa Tshering Dong that she would one day drive his lightweight Land Rover on the treacherous Sandakphu route. She has done that umpteen times since 2008.
She will head to Noida next month for the challenging Land Rover Experience Above and Beyond Tour. “The LRE tour event is held every month in different states. In Chandigarh, I instructed 10-12 Land rover enthusiasts. It is a nice feeling to share my experience with others,” she said.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Emotional Family Reunion as Dilchand Reaches Home After Heart Transplant
It was an emotional reunion for Dilchand Singh and his family on Sunday, 10 June. Not that the 39-year-old had been away for long, but because the private tutor from Jharkhand’s Deoghar was back home after getting a new lease of life. Dilchand, who underwent eastern India’s first heart transplant surgery, was discharged on Sunday morning — 20 days after he had the surgery at Fortis Hospital, Anandapur on 21 May.
“I wept with joy when my husband walked back into the house looking much better and happy. I had spoken to him over the phone when he was in the hospital and he assured me that he was fit and fine. But seeing him in flesh after he has been gifted a new life was an emotional moment for the whole family,” Dilchand’s wife, Hema Devi, told TOI.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Time's up for Old Metro Escalators
One in every three escalators in use at Metro stations is a dinosaur that can no longer defy age, forcing the city's transport lifeline to draw up a plan to replace some of them over the next one-and-a-half years.
Metro Railway has invited bids for four new escalators at Dum Dum station, including the one that had abruptly reversed direction on 8 May, throwing off several commuters and leaving one of them with injuries to both knees.
Eleven more escalators are to be replaced at Rabindra Sadan, Rabindra Sarobar, Belgachia, Chandni Chowk, Esplanade and Netaji Bhavan stations.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. State to Monitor Tech Seats Quota
The allotment of management quota seats in BTech courses at private engineering colleges will be controlled by the state government to ensure that poor but meritorious students benefit.
The government has received complaints that several colleges do not extend the benefit of management quota seats to underprivileged students, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said.
Most private engineering colleges allegedly use the management quota to admit students against hefty fees.
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. Axe on Bypass Park Trees
Twenty-five trees will be felled at a park in the Metropolitan area off EM Bypass for "beautification." Nearly 10 of them had been chopped by 10 June evening.
An engineer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) said permission had been sought from the forest department for cutting the trees.
The engineer said some saplings have already been planted along the Beleghata canal to make up for the loss. More saplings would be planted as part of the beautification project, he said.
"The beautification project is part of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation," he said.
A naturalist said most of the felled trees were palm trees.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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