Agartala-Akhaura Rail Project Gaining Ground

Agartala, Mar 31 : The ball has started rolling in favour of the historic Indo-Bangla rail connectivity with the Railway Ministry contemplating to undertake topological survey for the extension work. The alignment for the proposed Agartala to Akhaura (Bangladesh) has already been accepted by the Bangladesh Government, the Assembly was informed here on Tuesday.

An amount of Rs 251 crore will be spent for commissioning the Indo-Bangla rail link and the project will be financed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and DoNER, said Industries and Commerce Minister Jitendra Chowdhury in reply to a notice moved by MLAs Basudev Majumder and Rita Kar Chowdhury.

He said that the project is expected to get implemented within the next three to four years. The General Manager of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Construction had visited Akhaura to oversee the alignment of the dream railway project.

Chowdhury informed the House that the Bangladesh Government is also seriously thinking of finalising a modality to allow India, Nepal and Bhutan to use Chittagong Sea Port. It may be noted that Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had urged the Bangaldesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to allow Tripura to use Chittagong Port during his visit to Dhaka in March last year. The issue also came up for discussion during the visit of Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni during his visit to Agartala in November last year.

On setting up of a bridge on river Feni, he said that a joint team had already visited the proposed site and an organisation has been asked to prepare a detailed project report at the earliest.

The bridge would connect Sabroom in South district with Bangladesh’s Ramgarh directly ushering a wide opportunity for bilateral trade. As part of goodwill gesture, the State Government would bear expenditure for setting up the bridge.

He further said the re-opening of waterway between Tripura and Bangladesh is also under active consideration of the Ministry of Shipping. The Centre has already incorporated it in the Northeast Vision 2020.

Rihanna’s On The Cover Of Rolling Stone

Rihanna looks hot-as-balls on the new cover of Rolling Stones, unfortunately for now all I have is the cover,on newsstands Friday (April 1).

Photo: Mark Seliger / Rolling Stone

Nagaland Govt Bans Pig Products From Myanmar

Kohima, Mar 30 : The Nagaland government has banned all pig products into the state from Myanmar following outbreak of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome in that country.

An order issued by the Nagaland Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department said the state government has decided to impose a ban on import of pigs and pig products from Myanmar into the state with immediate effect following the recent outbreak of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), a viral disease of pigs in that country.

All concern departments are requested to strictly comply with the government directions, the order said.

The World's Deadliest Intersection?

This Chinese public service announcement has garnered the attention it hoped for.

In an effort to promote safe driving, traffic authorities released a video depicting a string of accidents caught by surveillance cameras at what some think may be the most dangerous intersection in the world. And the 12-minute segment, filmed in the city of Heze in the Shandog province of China, has raced across the Internet--within just 22 hours of its posting on local video sharing site Youku , it amassed more than 2 million views and 279 pages of comments.

Youku's description of the piece reads as follows (translated from its original Chinese text):

Installing surveillance cameras is just one method, but improving motorists and the people's traffic safety knowledge is the key. We cannot stop traffic accidents from happening, but we will do our best to prevent and reduce the occurrence of accidents. Rise up together all people and all police, and work towards building a safe and peaceful Heze, work towards being able to go home to eat with our loved ones...

Warning: graphic content.

Ann Taylor Photoshop Fail

Today in the most breaking-est of breaking style news: not to be outdone -- or under-retouched -- Ann Taylor has one-upped rival Photochopper Victoria's Secret, apparently erasing a model's left arm in this picture for the brand's "Twist Neck Short Sleeve Tee."

Ol' Annie was clever enough to pull the image in question from its website (so we found it in the cache for your viewing pleasure) and replace it with a variety of color options, all of which come with two upper body limbs.

Please also see the case of the missing leg, courtesy of Talbots.

(Via PSD, of course)

In blue:

In "rose petal," now with 100 percent more arms:

Sites You Should Be Wasting Time On Right Now

Why was the Internet invented? For the proliferation of information? News?

Keeping in touch with friends and family?

Well, you might be doing it wrong. The correct answer is "procrastination." But it's not too late to correct yourself!

Here are seven sites this week for you to waste time on and ignore your actual responsibilities.

3eanuts

It seems like every week, a new meme pops up that alters "Garfield" or "The Family Circus" for comedic effect. But comic strip customization has rarely been as effective or as sad as 3eanuts, in which the last panel of a "Peanuts" comic strip is eliminated, throwing Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty and the gang into various existential episodes. Good grief.

Penis Size Map

Check out the Penis Size Map to find out how you stack up in your geographic location.

Cinema Nutrition

Good movies can be food for the soul, so it's only fitting that someone would break down their health value. Cinema Nutrition gives by-the-numbers breakdowns of your favorite movies.

Calliope Songs

Indulge your inner Mark Twain by spending some time on this extraordinarily researched site that not only gives extensive background on steamboats, but offers more calliope songs than you ever knew you cared about. (Seriously, just listen to one calliope tune, and don't be surprised if you find yourself sipping mint juleps and cooling yourself with ice cubes by the end of the work day.)

deviantArt Sucks

Ah, deviantArt -- a great site for burgeoning artists to show off their work, and also a great site to post your creepy anime/fetish art. DeviantArt Sucks trashes the worst of the site with a focused, and hilarious, rage.

Body Browser

Google Labs is so vast that some truly incredible work remains largely hidden from the public. One such feature is Body Browser, an excellent tool for taking an interactive look at how the human body functions.

I Always Wondered

While many sites are written to explain science in layman's terms, rarely are they as they as engaging -- or feature as beautifully illustrated graphics -- as I Always Wondered.

Wikibombs

Wikibombs that hilariously captures all the best Wikipedia vandalism before it's taken down. Unfortunately, the site went down last week shortly after we featured it, so many of you weren't able to get there. Now it's back, so here's the link again in case you missed the Wikibomb goodness.

Kohima War Hero's Courage is Marked By City 67 Years After His Death

Plaque unveiled to young lieutenant who gave his life covering the retreat of his men

In memoriam: Lieutenant John Young's individual bravery will be marked with a plaque at his home

The bravery of a war hero is to be honoured in Glasgow, 67 years after his death.

A granite plaque is being unveiled outside the west end home of Lieutenant John Young, who died in the campaign against Japan in 1944 aged 24.

Lieutenant Young was killed while covering the retreat of his men in north-east India.

Their tactics allowed the inhabitants and garrison of Kohima to prepare themselves for the 64-day assault on the city which followed, and which ended in Japanese defeat.

The battle of Kohima, as the Japanese tried to invade British-ruled India, is regarded as a turning point of the war.

Lieutenant Young was a soldier in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders attached to the Assam Regiment.

The previously hidden story of his bravery was uncovered by Glasgow advertising firm boss Roy McCallum, who came across it while researching his own family's military service.

He brought it to the attention of local councillor Jim Mackechnie, who persuaded the council that John Young's courage should be marked.

The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Bob Winter, will unveil a granite plaque outside 7 Jedburgh Gardens, in the west end, on Wednesday at 10.45am.

CAG Flays BADP Irregularities in Mizoram

Aizawl, Mar 30 : The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has flayed the Mizoram's Rural Development Department for irregularities in the implementation of the Border Area Development Programme in the state, which shares international borders of 404 kms with Myanmar and 318 kms with Bangladesh.

''The main objective of the programme for a speedy development of the border area was not achieved to the desired extent due to inherent deficiency in planning and implementation of the programme (on the part of the state government),'' the CAG said in its report for the year ended March 31, 2010, laid in the state Assembly by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla today.

''The rural development failed to prepare comprehensive district plans. A baseline survey was yet to be conducted. There was no attempt to converge the schemes, sponsored by the state government and the Centre, with the BADP,'' the CAG said.

Moreover, the Mara and Lai autonomous district councils were not given any role in execution of the programme in their respective district councils.

It was further noticed that the villages dotted near the international borders of Myanmar and Bangladesh were not identified for preparation of annual action plan for 2009-2010, thereby obviating the very purpose of prioritising these villages.

In violation of the prescribed financial rules, the department drew an amount of Rs 46.76 crore during 205-2010 presenting false bills to the government’s treasury before actual commencement of approved works, the CAG said.

Out of Rs 103.40 crore drawn during 2005-2010, only Rs 23.40 crore (23 per cent) was released to the implementing border blocks, and the remaining Rs 80 crore (77 per cent) was disbursed in the subsequent financial years, causing abnormal delay, the report revealed.

Against the BADP guidelines, the department disproportionately allocated Rs 87 crore to 16 border blocks during 2006-2010 without giving equal weightage of population criteria, it was also noted by the CAG.

Further, the department incurred an expenditure of Rs 6.71 crore during 2005-2010 towards execution of 134 'ineligible' works, mainly pertaining to construction of office buildings, residential accommodations and rest houses, the CAG flayed.

Despite the fact that the BADP guidelines emphasised that no single sector gets a disproportionately large share of total allocation, it was noticed that the expenditure under infrastructure sector alone constituted 55 per cent of the total expenditure.

The expenditure under social, education, security, health and agriculture sector accounted for two to 19 per cent of the total expenditure, the report said.

It was also revealed by the CAG that BDOs of eight border blocks completed 34 works/schemes during 2005-06 to 2009-10 at a cost of Rs 5.40 crore against the original approved estimated cost of Rs 3.32 crore with spilled over of works/schemes from two to six years, resulting in cost over-run of Rs 2.08 crore.

''As a result, the BADP failed to meet the needs of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas near the borders,'' the CAG report said.