HUBLI: It rained heavily on Wednesday in Dundur village, Gadag taluk, where the 54-year-old Ramappa Yelavatti had been praying atop a tree from the past 19 days for rain. Rain started pelting in Dundur and nearby areas, Annigeri, Hulkoti, Shyakoti, Kurthkoti etc from the later part of the afternoon, bringing much relief to the farmers with their fields ready for sowing. There was jubilation in Dundur village soon after the rain and Yelavatti finally alighted from the tree. He could not walk, after 19 days spent on the tree without any food. He was carried on the shoulders of the grateful people who had gathered from the nearby villages and taken in a procession around the village. The villagers organised a celebration dinner with Yelavatti as their guest of honour.

Polluting drug firms to be closed

NEW DELHI: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has served ``proposed closure'' notice on two bulk drug manufacturing industries in Andhra Pradesh for not maintaining adequate effluent standards. A joint team of CPCB and Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board which inspected five bulk drug manufacturing industries in the State recently observed that the existing pollution control systems in two of the industries were ``grossly inadequate'' and the effluent standards could not be met under the present arrangement. The two industries have been given 15 days time to file objections, according to a CPCB press release.

Resolution on Jharkhand statehood

RANCHI: Senior Jharkhand People's Party (JPP) leaders have demanded passing of a resolution in favour of creation of a separate Jharkhand State consisting of 28 districts of Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal during the current session of the Parliament. In a letter to the Prime Minister, JPP president Vinod Bhagat, its presidium members, Kamal Kishore Bhagat, Aftab Jameel and its chief secretary Rajendra Mehta said, with the passing of a resolution in the Bihar Assembly on July 22 recommending creation of a separate Jharkhand State, a major constitutional hurdle had been removed from the path of granting statehood to Jharkhand. The letter was made available to the Press on Thursday.

Cycle rally for Independence jubilee

BANGALORE: A `Fort to Fort' cycle rally, which would cover a distance of 417 kms from Belgaum to Pune by the Maratha light infantry regiment of the Indian Army, to commemorate the golden jubilee of the country's Independence will be flagged-off from Pune on August 7. The 14-day rally will terminate at the Shivaji Stadium of the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre at Belgaum on August 20, a defence press release said. Participants would include officers, junior commissioned officers and other ranks of the regiment. Enroute the expedition will visit the historic forts of Purandhar, Ajinkya Tara and Panhala built by Chatrapati Shivaji.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.