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Army hosts yacht training camp for school children

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Nainital, Sep 18 (ANI): With an aim to revive yacht sailing in the country, a 15-day camp is being organised in Nainital district of Uttarakhand where in school children are being trained in yacht sailing.

Over 40 school students from the various parts of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are taking part in the camp, which is being conducted under the aegis of Indian Army’s Central Command.

The Lucknow based Central Command is conducting such adventure camps for school children from over a decade.

The participants are receiving guidance in the yacht sailing by a team of 11 Army instructors.

“This yacht sailing is a great sport because these days it’s becoming extinct. Most of the people do not want to take part and people of Nainital are also not taking so much interest in yacht sailing. But I feel it’s a very adventurous sport and a great sport,” said Karel Caprini, a participant.

Many of the participants also feel that the training would open up new job opportunities for them.

“We have come here to revive this sport and as far as I can say it’s a very good sport and there is a lot of job opportunity in it. If we do well and learn the technique, we can make our career in the sports,” said Deep, another participant.

According to the Chief instructor of the camp, Mahip Singh the main motive behind the camp is to popularise the dying sport among youth.

“Basic purpose is that sailing is an international sport and the facilities available in Uttaranchal especially, which comes under the central command. We have got our sailors, who have participated in international levels and we got the expertise. So to give the young building up generation a chance to gain knowledge and finally if they have the interest, so excel in the sport. That’s why we have organised the camp,” said Singh.

Despite being considered as a sport at the international level, yacht sailing in India is still at its nascent stage. (ANI)

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Banking transforms lives in rural areas in northeast

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Agartala (Tripura)/ Jorhat (Assam), Sep.16 (ANI): Banking services are playing a major role in transforming the lives of people in rural areas of the northeast India.

To upgrade infrastructure and attract more investment, banks have undertaken several economic upliftment policies and schemes.

In Tripura, a financial outreach camp was recently organized at the State’s Pitra village to raise awareness among villagers about banking and central banking services. It also intended to bring them under the fold of mainstream banking.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took the initiative along with different functioning banks in the State. It came as a boon to thousands of villagers, especially farmers, who enthusiastically participated in the camp.

Villagers were familiarized with various banking facilities, security features of currency notes. They were given an opportunity to exchange their soiled and mutilated currency notes and exchange currency notes for coins.

The participants put up their queries about banking facilities in the area.

“Here we do not have any banking system. Because of the camp the villagers would be benefited. With bank accounts, people will get to know about savings and this will help them in the future,” said Bubantala Jamatia, a Pitra villager.

“This outreach camp has helped poor villagers and we are now opening accounts without depositing any money,” said Anishmia Sarkar, a villager. o improve the banking sector in northeast, the Reserve bank of India has set up a Committee on Financial Sector Development.

The committee has made several major recommendations, including financial inclusion, opening of bank branches and enhancement of credit flow to the region.

“As far as Reserve Bank of India is concerned, the approach is that we work together, the State government, the banks, the non-governmental organizations, the local Panchayati Raj institutions and the Reserve Bank will act like a catalyst to make people come together an work for economic development,” said Usha Thorat, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India.

The United Bank of India (UBI) has drawn up a plan for economic upliftment of the seven northeastern States called ‘Vision 2020 for northeast’ aimed to cover rural people.

‘Vision 2020 for northeast, the plan, was declared during a press conference by UBI held at Tocklai in Jorhat in Assam.

It would include introduction of low rate interest loans for the poor, unemployed youths, farmers, women, self-help groups, small scale industries and entrepreneurs among others.

The bank also handed over rupees 750 million loan to 8,673 Union Bank of India (UBI) account holders.The loans have benefited us a lot. The bank provided us loans based on the need of the customers. We are really satisfied,” said C. Saikia, one of the customers.

At present there are 252 Union Bank of India branches in the northeast region of the country. The bank is setting up 15 branches in different parts of Assam. Two branches each will also be set up in Manipur and Nagaland. By Pinaki Das / Vaschipem Kamodang (ANI)

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Jolie takes adopted daughter Zahara on first visit to native Ethiopia

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 16 (ANI): Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie’s eldest daughter Zahara returned to her native Ethiopia for the first time since her adoption four years ago.

The four-year-old flew back home with her mother at the weekend.

It all happened when Jolie, currently in Kenya on a United Nations mission with partner Brad Pitt and their six children, broke away from the trip to cross the border into Ethiopia.

Zahara’s little sister Shiloh, 3, also accompanied them.

However, Pitt and the couple’s other four children stayed behind.

“On a trip to Kenya with their children, Angelina stopped in Dabaab Refugee Camp, and also flew to Ethiopia with Zahara and Shiloh for two days,” Contactmusic quoted a source as having told People.com.

“(It was) the first time Zahara had been back home since her adoption. The trip was about keeping up that culture for her,” the source added.

If reports are to be believed, Jolie is looking for a property to build a tuberculosis and AIDS clinic in Zahara’s name.

The Hollywood couple jointly founded a similar organisation to aid impoverished children-known as the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Project-after adopting their eight-year-old son Maddox from Cambodia in 2002. (ANI)

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Mamata Banerjee lauds Rahul Gandhi’s train ride

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sept 17 (ANI): Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has lauded Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi’s train ride as part of his party’s austerity drive.

Mamata Banerjee, who inaugurated the newly spruced up terminal of New Delhi railway station in the capital along with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday, lauded the austerity act.

Gandhi travelled in an air-conditioned chair car of the Swarn Shatabdi Express on Tuesday, a day after his mother Sonia Gandhi travelled in an economy class flight from New Delhi to Mumbai.

Rahul travelled from New Delhi to Ludhiana to inaugurate a four-day camp of young Congressmen.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has asked the Congress leaders to observe austerity to cut down expenditure in the wake of draught declared in parts of the country.

Earlier, the Congress Party had decided that its ministers and lawmakers would also take a 20 per cent cut in salaries.

The Congress Party has also urged the government to keep prices of essential commodities in check with special emphasis on oil seeds and pulses. (ANI)

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Swann hopes to wake England pals from their one-day slumber

September 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep.15 (ANI): Off-spinner Graeme Swann is hoping to give a wake up call to his England team-mates when they take on Australia in the fifth of the seven match NatWest series.

The day-night clash is to be played at Trent Bridge tonight.

The spin ace told SunSport: “I’m going to try to lift the camp. I find it easy to have a laugh while playing cricket – and it’s probably more important to do that when you are losing. I don’t target anyone in particular with the piss-taking. It is whoever walks in the dressing room at the wrong time. But you can’t kid anyone, we’ve played terrible cricket in the one-day series so far.”

England’s one-day form needs a sharp hand-brake turn if they are to stand any chance in the upcoming Champions Trophy in South Africa. Their mini-World Cup campaign starts on September 25 and once again you wouldn’t back them to bag the silverware.

Swann was meeting fans on the Ashes Urn Tour. (ANI)

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Jolie visits ‘dire’ refugee camp in Kenya

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 14 (ANI): Angelina Jolie recently visited a refugee settlement camp in Africa.

As United Nations Goodwill Ambassador she spent a day at the Dadaab Refugee camp on the Kenyan border.

The beauty was appalled to see the conditions of 285,000 refugees living in a camp, which was initially made for just 90,000 people.

Somali people, who have fled into Kenya because of atrocities in their country, live in the camp.

The ‘Gia’ star wants to bring world’s attention to the plight of the refugees.

“If this is the better solution, then what must it be like in Somalia? The toilets are already overflowing. There is not even enough space for trash dumps so people are living amongst the garbage,” Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

“What is amazing is that as more and more people come into the camp, the Somali families continue to be generous with what little they have, even if that means having one eighth of the water they need and their children suffering from dehydration,” she added.

The beauty met some families in the camp too.

She said: “The Somali families I met today are full of warmth and affection. I wish more people could meet them because then they would have a stronger desire to help.” (ANI)

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Gisele Bündchen due in December

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 12 (ANI): Supermodel Gisele Bündchen’s husband has confirmed that the model is pregnant and is due in December.

Tom Brady said in an interview with ESPN’s Chris Berman that the couple is expecting the baby in the year-end.

The New England Patriots quarterback mentioned that he was also ready to attend Lamaze classes with the beauty.

“I told her no Sundays. It couldn’t be harder than training camp, so I’ll be prepared,” People magazine quoted him as saying.

He added: “The women are the ones who have to do the work. We just have to be there to support them and so it’ll be nice to do that.”

Brady already has 2-year-old John Edward Thomas with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan.

However, it will be the first child for Bündchen. (ANI)

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UN strongly warns Lanka over continued holding of civilians in refugee camps

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 12 (ANI): The United Nations has strongly warned Sri Lanka that the world body cannot continue funding indefinitely the huge refugee camps in the north of the country, and asked the authorities to allow the hundreds of Tamil civilians to leave.

The senior UN official in the country hardened their stand when they said the camps should be a last resort for civilians with nowhere else to go.

Sri Lanka faces increasing international criticism over its treatment of the estimated 300,000 civilians held in camps, with the EU poised to cancel a trade concession worth one billion dollars to the government, The Independent reports.

Humanitarian aid groups have complained that conditions in the vast Menik Farms camp, where most people remain behind razor wire are still inadequate four months after the decades-long civil war ended.

“Nothing has changed over the past three months for the people in the camps. They are overcrowded, with poor sanitary conditions and inadequate health care. There are concerns about what may happen when the monsoon rains arrive in the next couple of months,” the UK-based Catholic Fund for Overseas Development said on Friday.

The UN’s senior official in Sri Lanka, Neil Buhne, told the BBC: “The best solution is, obviously, that as many people leave as soon as possible; and, for the people who have no place else to go, that the site can become an open one.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also said that he intends to speak directly to Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to protest against the decision to expel the spokesman for Unicef, accused by the government of acting as “propagandist” for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

He will also raise the issue of two UN workers in the Tamil-dominated north arrested in June. (ANI)

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Indo-Kazakh expedition team reaches Mount Marble Wall summit

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Astana (Kazakhstan), Sep 11(ANI): A mountaineering expedition team comprising six members of the Indian Army and eight from the Kazakhstan Army has successfully scaled the Mount Marble Wall Peak in Kazakhstan.

The expedition was jointly led by Lt Col SS Shekhawat and Ilinski, and the team reached Base Camp on August 23 at 3300 meters and established three camps on the mountain by August 27.

On September 3, the summit team left for Camp- III, located at a height of 5200 meters, and after nearly 11 hours of grueling climb finally summitted the peak on September 4.

The summit was a great challenge, as continuous inclement weather during the ascent and alpine climbing used by the teams further increased the degree of difficulty.

This was the first Indian expedition to Marble Wall Peak. (ANI)

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Oldest-known fiber materials used by humans date back to 34,000 years

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 11 (ANI): A team of archaeologists and paleobiologists has discovered flax fibers that are more than 34,000 years old, making them the oldest fibers known to have been used by humans.

The fibers were discovered during systematic excavations in a cave in the Republic of Georgia.

The flax, which would have been collected from the wild and not farmed, could have been used to make linen and thread, according to the researchers.

The cloth and thread would then have been used to fashion garments for warmth, sew leather pieces, make cloths, or tie together packs that might have aided the mobility of our ancient ancestors from one camp to another.

“This was a critical invention for early humans. They might have used this fiber to create parts of clothing, ropes, or baskets-for items that were mainly used for domestic activities,” said Ofer Bar-Yosef of the Harvard University, who jointly led the research with George Grant MacCurdy and Janet G. B. MacCurdy.

“We know that this is wild flax that grew in the vicinity of the cave and was exploited intensively or extensively by modern humans,” he added.

The items created with these fibers increased early humans chances of survival and mobility in the harsh conditions of this hilly region.

The flax fibers could have been used to sew hides together for clothing and shoes, to create the warmth necessary to endure cold weather.

They might have also been used to make packs for carrying essentials, which would have increased and eased mobility, offering a great advantage to a hunter-gatherer society.

Some of the fibers were twisted, indicating they were used to make ropes or strings. Others had been dyed.

Early humans used the plants in the area to color the fabric or threads made from the flax.

Today, these fibers are not visible to the eye, because the garments and items sewed together with the flax have long ago disintegrated.

Bar-Yosef, Eliso Kvavadze of the Institute of Paleobiology, and colleagues, discovered the fibers by examining samples of clay retrieved from different layers of the cave under a microscope.

Bar-Yosef and his team used radiocarbon dating to date the layers of the cave as they dug the site, revealing the age of the clay samples in which the fibers were found.

Flax fibers were also found in the layers that dated to about 21,000 and 13,000 years ago. (ANI)

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Maoists blow up rail track in Orissa

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Rourkela, Sep 10 (ANI): The Maoists blew up a railway track and at least four government buildings in Orissa’s Sundargarh district today.

According to police sources, the rebels blasted railway tracks at around seven places between Bimlagarh and Patangi.

They also blew up an abandoned police station building at Kalta, another building where a CRPF camp was functioning earlier, a community centre and office building of CITU.

Train services between Rourkela and Barsuan have been completely disrupted due to the blasts. here was no report about any casualty in the attacks.

The Maoists have called for a 24-hour shut-down in the district today to demand release of 30 people, who were arrested on the suspicion that were naxalites. (ANI)

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Gen Kapoor flags in all-women Army team that scaled Siachen’s highest peak

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 9 (ANI): Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor flagged in the first ever women expedition team for army corps of engineers to Indira Col, Siachen, today at Army Headquarters here.

The Indian Army has achieved another milestone in the history of Indian mountaineering by undertaking an ‘All Women Officers Expedition’ to Siachen glacier.

The Corps of Engineers in consonance with its spirit of adventure has organised this unique expedition to the highest and coldest battlefield in the world, Siachen Glacier, a junction point of three countries – India, China and Pakistan.

The expedition led by Major Megha Astagikar summitted Indira Col, located at an altitude of 20,187 feet, after trekking 103.10 kilometers on August 15, which coincided with the 62nd Independence Day.

Enroute to Indira Col, the team halted at eight camps to carry out acclimatisation, training and build-up of essential logistics. Braving inclement weather and extremely difficult terrain conditions, Indira Col was summitted well before the planned schedule.

The team traversed across the most treacherous high altitude terrain characterised by high avalanche-prone snow bound area with deep crevasses, steep ice-walls and scarce oxygen.

The 17 women officers expedition team was flagged-off by the Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Noble Thamburaj on August 3.

Prior to undertaking the expedition, a detailed planning and rigorous training in basic ice-craft and mountaineering skills was carried out by the team at the Army Mountaineering Institute, Siachen Base Camp.

Major AR Ramakrishnan, the trainer of the expedition team, inspite of being a battle casualty during ‘Operation Vijay’ summitted Indira Col alongwith the team making the achievement of the expedition spectacular and creditable. (ANI)

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Henry attacks French coach Domenech for boring training session

September 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 8 (ANI): French striker Thierry Henry has attacked national coach Raymond Domenech, and said that Les Bleus are bored in training and are lost on the pitch with “no style or guidelines”.

Henry, who is France’s record goal scorer with 49 goals in 112 appearances, launched his attack at the national team’s training camp last Friday.

“Coach, we have something to tell you, I am speaking in the name of the squad. We are getting bored during your training sessions. In 12 years with the French team, I have never been in such a situation,” he told the Le Parisien newspaper.

“We do not know how to play, where to be on the pitch, how to organise. We do not know what to do. We have no style, no guidelines. It is not working,” he added.

The French football federation declined to comment on the matter, The Mirror reported.

Coming from Henry, the comments are a serious blow to the authority of Domenech, who has enjoyed the full support of the French Football Federation despite tumbling out of the Euro2008 at the group stage. (ANI)

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Pak Qaeda hand in 2006 trans-Atlantic bomb plot revealed

September 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep.8 (ANI): New evidence put before a British jury during a retrial of three Brit Muslim convicts suggests that the men used code words to discuss their plans with an al-Qaeda fixer based in Pakistan.

The e-mails and conversations suggest that the plot was in its final stages, possibly days away from execution in 2006.

The seven daily flights highlighted by the three plotters were: 14.15 United Airlines Flight 931 to San Francisco; 15.00 Air Canada Flight 849 to Toronto; 15.15 Air Canada Flight 865 to Montreal; 15.40 United Airlines Flight 959 to Chicago; 16.20 United Airlines Flight 925 to Washington; 16.35 American Airlines Flight 131 to New York; 16.50 American Airlines Flight 91 to Chicago.

According to The Telegraph and the Daily Express, the batteries the gang planned to use as part of their detonators were bought in Pakistan.

An ingredient in the bomb mix was the orange soft drink Tang – sold in Pakistan – which had a high sugar content to aid the explosion.

A British intelligence source said: “The use of drink bottles sold in Pakistan and batteries sold in Pakistan underline the plot’s ties to that country. The foot soldiers were from Britain – but the organisers were in Pakistan.”

A security source said of the conspiracy: “It was very clever and the airport scanners would not have picked up the devices at all.”

Prosecutor Peter Wright told the Woolwich Crown Court in South East London how the would-be bombers were “a cell of home-grown terrorists activated and directed by a designated leader in Pakistan.”

That was confirmed by a government source in Pakistan, who said the plot was believed to have originated “with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.”

Seized e-mails showed the chain of terror stretched from there, across the lawless border to Pakistan, to London and to the woods of High Wycombe where explosives were buried.

The aim was to mirror the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed 259 passengers and 11 in the Scottish town.

Aliases exposed during the trial revealed the terror kingpin in Pakistan was dubbed “Paps” or “Papa”.

Ali called himself Imran and Chacha and also set up email accounts in the bogus names Tippu Khan and Jameel Masood.

His co-conspirators used aliases such as Fatty, Arro and Nigga.

Hydrogen peroxide was known as “aftershave”, police surveillance as “skin problems” and martyrdom videos were referred to as “wedding tapes”.

It is also thought that the bomb makers received training at an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan.

A mystery Pakistani, thought to be a top al-Qaeda envoy, made contact with the three would-be suicide bombers during a flying visit to Britain in June 2006.

Experts who tested the explosive mix on the aircraft were horrified.

A witness said: “It was absolutely devastating.” (ANI)

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Tribals attend RBI’s financial outreach camp in Tripura

September 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Agartala, Sep. 6 (ANI): Thousands of tribal families turned out to participate in a financial outreach camp organized by the Reserve Bank of India in Pitra village of Tripura.

The camp was organised with the objective of bringing awareness among villagers about banking norms.

“Bank wants to lend for projects which would generate economic activity will lead to development of north east.

So we have to be able to work together. The state government, the banks, the non-governmental organisations, the locals, Panchayati Raj institutions and the Reserve Bank will act like a catalyst to make people come together and work together for economic development,” said Usha Thorat, deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India.

Organised on the occasion of Platinum Year celebration of Reserve Bank, the camp witnessed hundreds of villagers gathered at the stalls of different banks for opening of new bank accounts.

The villagers were also informed and familiarized with various banking facilities, security features of currency notes, exchange their soiled and mutilated currency notes, exchange currency notes for coins and also look into their complains with regards to banking facilities.

“In the village there is no banking system and this camp will be of great benefit to us. The villagers had no means of saving but now we think we can save something for our future,” Bubantala Jamatia, a villager

Under the model, post offices, cooperatives, NGOs, financial institutions, self-help groups, retired employees of state or central government may act as an agent of the banks and provide services to people. (ANI)

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Health camp opened to help Assam’s flood victims

September 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jorhat, Sep. 5 (ANI): A health camp was opened on Saturday for flood-affected people of Phooloni village and in its neighbouring areas in Assam.

The camp has the facilities for medical examination and free distribution of medicines.

Phooloni is one of the many villages in Majuli islands of the state, which was inundated by floodwaters following breach in an embankment of river Brahmaputra last moth.

The flood which displaced thousands of people from 70 villages made people susceptible to waterborne diseases.

The camp is a precautionary measure to give timely medical assistance to the people thereby preventing spread of any disease.

The camp, which will continue for a week, has been organised by the Majuli Sub-Divisional Administration, Jorhat.

The villagers are happy that they are getting free medical assistance.

“We are happy with the government’s initiative to provide free medical checkup and distribute free medicines to people devastated by flood. We also thank those who are helping us at this critical time,” said Dev Singh, a villager.

While many villagers have returned to their houses, many are still living in safer areas. The world’s largest river island was submerged for the second time this year as the Brahmaputra River breached an embankment in Matmora region in August.

The floods were caused by incessant heavy rains for five days when it breached an embankment.

Heavy rainfall, upstream caused the second wave of flooding on the whole Upper Majuli area and displaced around 30 thousand people, and destroyed thousands of hectares of crop. (ANI)

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Chopper carrying YSR’s body arrives in Kadapa

September 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Hyderabad, Sep.4 (ANI): The flag-draped and flower-bedecked coffin of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajsekhara Reddy arrived in his native village Pulivendula in Kadapa District by an Indian Air Force helicopter on Friday afternoon.

The flight took off from Hyderabad’s Begumpet Airport after being brought from the Lal Bahudur Shastri Stadium where it had lain in state for about three hours for the general public and leaders to pay their last respects.

The body of the late chief minister, who died in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, will be given final rites with full state honours.

Earlier, the flower-bedecked gun carriage carrying the coffin was brought to the stadium for a lying in state.

Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and senior BJP leader L.K.Advani were among the leaders who paid floral tribute to the departed leader.

There was a sea of humanity inside the stadium, and some of them were quite distraught and emotional at seeing the cortege carrying the body of their son of the soil.

The body of the late chief minister will be taken to his village in Kadapa District around 2 p.m.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi paid homage to former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajsekhar Reddy at his official residence this morning.

Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash along with four others on Wednesday morning, also received floral tribute from other Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister A K Antony and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit at the Chief Minister’s Camp office in Hyderabad’s Begumpet area.

The leaders also wrote condolence messages in a book at the camp office.hereafter, the funeral cortege moved out of the premises and moved along a designated route towards the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, where it will lie in state for about three hours to allow the general public and politicians to pay their last respects to the departed leader.

The Andhra Pradesh capital was a sea of grieving humanity as people from all walks of life gathered in tens of thousands on major thoroughfares to give a fitting farewell to their son of the soil, YSR.

The flower bedecked army truck and funeral convoy, led by his emotionally distressed son Jaganmohan Reddy, wound its way slowly through the streets of the city towards the stadium. Jagan Reddy greeted the emotionally charged masses lining the route with folded hands.

Reddy’s burial will be held at around 5 p. m. in his native village in Kadapa District.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has declared five days of state mourning in honour of YSR and cancelled all the official programs in the state.

Reddy’s Bell 430 chopper went missing on Wednesday morning at about 9.35 and could only be located almost 24 hours later on Thursday morning following a night long search operation by different units of security personnel including Army’s Commandos, Air Force’s Sukhoi-30, and 5,000 CRPF personnel.

The wreckage was discovered atop a hill about 40 nautical miles from Kurnoool town.

Along with YSR, four others-Dr P Subramanium, the Special Secretary to the Chief Minister; ASC Wesley, Chief Security Officer and two pilots Group Captain SK Bhatia and Captain MS Reddy-died in the crash. (ANI)

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YSR’s body leaves Hyderabad’s Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium

September 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Hyderabad, Sep.4 (ANI): The flag-draped and flower-bedecked coffin of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajsekhara Reddy left the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium on Friday afternoon, hours after it was placed there for the general public and leaders to pay their last respects.

The funeral convoy is headed to Hyderabad’s Begumpet Airport from where the coffin carrying the body of the late chief minister, who died in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, will be flown to his native village in Kadapa District for final rites with full state honours.