At least 13 people were killed in rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh as heavy showers lashed North India on Monday.

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 31.5 degrees Celsius, three less than normal, while the minimum was recorded at 26.5 degrees Celsius. The city received 2.2 mm of rainfall. In Uttar Pradesh, three people died after being struck by lightning in Azamgarh, two each died in Firozabad, Barabanki, Ambedkarnagar and Lakhimpur and one each in Bhadohi and Sultanpur in other rain-related incidents, including house collapse.

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has said the state was facing problems in getting environment clearances, in some cases taking years, for the proposed hydropower projects.

Attending a panel discussion on ‘Hydropower Projects in North-East’ at New Delhi yesterday, Tuki said the state was facing serious problems in getting Forest and Environment clearances, official sources said here today. Arunachal Pradesh has 40 per cent of the country’s total hydropower generation potential. Tuki requested the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to have a more positive role in hydropower development in the state.

The Supreme Court has said that it will hear on September 10 the plea of Tamil Nadu seeking a direction to Karnataka for releasing 2TMC of water from Cauvery river as an interim measure.

The plea by the Tamil Nadu Government was made after the Centre told a bench comprising justices D K Jain and Madan Lokur that a meeting of Cauvery River Authority (CRA) headed by the Prime Minister will be held on September 19. The Bench on September 3 had pulled up the PMO officials for not holding a meeting of CRA to resolve the water-sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Good rains in August has not just partially offset the rainfall deficit across the country but also helped major reservoirs to replenish its storage.

The second meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority’s inter-Ministerial group in Delhi on Tuesday could not make much headway on the contentious issue of the under-construction hydro-electric project on the Alaknanda at Srinagar in Uttarakhand.

The group, headed by Planning Commission Member B. K. Chaturvedi, heard the builders of the project and the campaigners for the protection of the Dhari Devi temple on the river, but there appeared to be no convergence.

The Supreme Court will hear on August 17 Tamil Nadu’s application for a direction to the Centre to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority immediately to perform its statutory obligations and approve the distress sharing formula evolved by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee, in view of the distress situation in the State.

A Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and Madan B. Lokur fixed the date after senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, appearing for Tamil Nadu, sought an early hearing. Initially Mr. Justice Jain told counsel it would not be possible for the court to direct the Prime Minister to convene the CRA. Mr. Vaidyanathan said that the court could make a request to the Prime Minister and cited past instances.

Four labourers declared dead in Uttarkashi found alive

Many areas in North India received rain on Monday while some stared at floods and landslides due to incessant downpour. In Uttar Pradesh, swollen rivers in the eastern districts have sent alarm bells ringing, forcing many people in several villages to seek shelter at safer places. The Ghaghra and Saryu in Gonda and Ayodhya, flowing above the danger mark, have forced residents of over a dozen villages to rush to safer places and some 2,000 people have taken shelter on the roadside.

Incessant rain lashed parts of North India on Sunday where many rivers were running above the danger mark. The capital Delhi recorded received 0.8 mm of rain.

During the past two days, incessant rains battered Uttarakhand triggering landslides, cloud bursts and flash floods which flattened homes and stranded hundreds of pilgrims with the chardham yatra coming to a grinding halt.

SILCHAR: In order to resolve the raging controversy over the construction of Barak dam, both Delhi and Dhaka have agreed for an expert-meet on August 27 in the national capital.

Bhubaneswar: Seeking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention into the dispute between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh over the Polavaram project, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday demanded st