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Earthquake jolts North India

NEW DELHI: An earthquake of medium intensity jolted Delhi and its satellite towns on Monday afternoon, pulling panic-stricken people out of their homes and offices.

The tremors, measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale, with Haryana's Bahadurgarh as epicentre, were felt across Delhi and its adjoining satellite towns of Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh at a 1:11 pm, the MeT office said.

However, according to the US Geological Survey, the strength of the earthquake was measured 5.2 on the Richter scale.

The quake took place 9 km below the surface. The tremors were felt for less than ten seconds.

"The intensity was 4.9 and the epicentre was Bahadurgarh, “ a senior MeT official said.

There were no immediate reports of any casualty. The fire brigade and police said they had not received any immediate calls of casualty or damage.

According to the Seismic Zone Mapping done by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Delhi is among 30 cities in the country falling in zone IV, which is defined as a severe intensity seismic zone.

This is the third tremor in Delhi, which is among the 30 cities which fall in the high-risk seismic zone, since September last year.

Tremors were felt in the Capital on September 18 last year following an earthquake with an intensity of 6.8 on the Richter scale having its epicentre near the Sikkim-Nepal border.

On September 8 last year, an earthquake measuring 4.2 on Richter scale with Haryana's Sonepat as epicentre, had rocked the Capital. — PTI

Race for political tie-ups begins

NEW DELHI: Ahead of D-Day—March 6—the race for a possible post-poll tie-ups in the most-watched Uttar Pradesh began on Monday. The exit polls conducted by five television news channels predicted a hung Assembly in Uttar Pradesh, with the Samajwadi Party having an edge.

Sensing an opportunity, the Congress tried to woo Mayawati's BSP. Union Minister and senior Congress leader Beni Prasad Verma had hurdled a political bombshell yesterday by favouring a tie-up with Mayawati's BSP.

Verma, who quit Samajwadi Party in 2007 following differences with Mulayam Singh Yadav, said he would personally prefer BSP to SP, which he dubbed as a "party of goons".

"The key to form the state government is with Congress and Congress for sure will form the government. If we have to form an alliance, I would personally prefer BSP. SP is a party of goons...BSP is a party of Dalits," he said. However, the Congress termed Verma’s comment as his “personal opinion”.

“We will stake claim to form the government if we get majority, otherwise we will prefer to sit in the Opposition," Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi said in Lucknow.

Mayawati recommends dissolution of state Assembly

LUCKNOW: In a late night development, Chief Minister Mayawati reportedly took the decision to go for dissolution of the 15th Vidhan Sabha once the Assembly election results are announced on March 6. The Cabinet by circulation approved the Chief Minister's decision, highly placed sources said.

Under the Constitution, the Cabinet can send a recommendation for House dissolution to the Governor for assent. After the last phase of polling on March 3, most of the exit polls indicated the BSP was on its way out of power. But the party rubbished the surveys at a meeting that the Chief Minister called here on Sunday. Ministers and the party’s election coordinators participated in the meeting under Mayawati’s leadership.

Sources said the Chief Minister told the ministers and office-bearers that the exit polls, which showed that the BSP was in for a big defeat, were fake and a figment of imagination. “The surveys were carried out on the direction of the rival political parties to demean the BSP and to create confusion among the public,” she said.

TN Cabinet to meet on N-plant issue

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has convened a Cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss the crisis over the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

According to reports, today’s meeting of the Cabinet comes at a time when the southern state faces acute power shortage and amidst allegation that several NGOs are receiving foreign funds to fuel the protests against the plant.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently said, "There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and the Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces. But we are a democracy, we are not like China. You know, for example, what's happening in Kudankulam The atomic energy program has got into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply." Prime Minister Singh made these remarks to a journal named Science.