चंडीगढ़ : 26 लाख में खरीदा कार का पसंदीदा नंबर...

चंडीगढ़: किसी कार का नंबर 0001 होना स्टेटस सिम्बल माना जाता रहा है, और पिछले एक-दो दशकों से लगभग सभी वाहन पंजीकरण विभाग कारों के इन फैन्सी रजिस्ट्रेशन नंबरों को प्रीमियम नंबरों के तौर पर बेचने लगे हैं... इस तरह नंबरों को बेचे जाने से विभागों, या यूं कहिए, राज्य सरकारों को काफी कमाई भी होती है, लेकिन चंडीगढ़ में हाल ही में पिछले सभी रिकॉर्ड तोड़ते हुए CH-01-AP सीरीज़ का वीआईपी रजिस्ट्रेशन नंबर 0001 नीलामी में 26 लाख रुपये में खरीदा गया है।

शहर के सेक्टर-44 में रहने वाले अमरजीत सिंह ने इस नंबर को अपनी मर्सिडीज़ कार के लिए खरीदा है, जबकि इसके लिए रिज़र्व प्राइस केवल 25 हज़ार रुपये था। अमरजीत सिंह ज़मींदार हैं, और पंजाब में ही खेती करवाया करते हैं।

चंडीगढ़ में इससे पहले जून महीने में भी एक व्यक्ति ने अपनी कार के लिए CH-01-AN सीरीज़ का 0001 नंबर 17 लाख रुपये की बोली लगाकर खरीदा था। इस माह में चंडीगढ़ के वाहन रजिस्ट्रेशन विभाग को बोली के जरिये बेचे गए नंबरों से 69 लाख रुपये की कमाई हुई है।

मुंबई में 9 मंज़िला इमारत में लगी आग

मुंबई: मुंबई में एक नौ मंजिल इमारत में आग लग गई है। मौके पर दमकल विभाग की आठ गाड़ियां मौके पर पहुंच गई हैं। यह आग ताड़देव इलाके में स्थित एवरेस्ट बिल्डिंग में लगी है। यह आग करीब 5.30 बजे लगने की बात कही जा रही है।

बिल्डिंग सबसे ऊपरी मंजिल में आग लगी है।

Fire in residential building in South Mumbai

Mumbai: The ninth floor of an apartment building in South Mumbai named the Everest is on fire. 

Most residents have been evacuated. However, 12 people are reported to be trapped in the fire at the building.

The ground floor of the building has shops.  Eight fire engines and eight water tankers are fighting the flames.

Govt to gift cellphones to poor families. Elections calling?

New Delhi: The government is likely to spend Rs. 7,000 crore to provide a mobile phone to every family below the poverty line.

The scheme - titled Har Haath Mein Phone (in every hand, a phone) - will be announced on Independence Day in the PM's speech to the nation, said sources. Some newspaper reports state that six million families will get a phone and 200 free minutes.

The BJP described the freebie as a desperate attempt to seek favour among voters ahead of the general elections in 2014. "First, electricity should be provided to people in villages. Without electricity, what is the use of free mobile phones?" asked BJP leader Balbir Punj. "The government has not been able to implement any scheme without corruption," he added.

The cellphone scheme was allegedly conceived by the Planning Commission, whose parent is the Finance Ministry.

The world's worst power outages

July 31, 2012: Three power grids across half of India fail in what authorities call overdrawing of the system, leaving a record 620 million people without power for several hours and raising serious concerns about whether the country's outdated infrastructure can meet soaring demands.

July 30, 2012: India's northern electricity grid fails for much of the day, leaving 370 million people without power.

Nov. 10, 2009: Storms near the Itaipu hydroelectric dam on the Paraguay-Brazil border are tentatively blamed for outages that cut power to as many as 60 million people in Brazil for two to three hours. The entire nation of Paraguay, population 7 million, is also briefly blacked out.


January-February 2008: Winter storms cause a nearly two-week blackout to about 4 million people around the central Chinese city of Chenzhou. Eleven technicians reportedly die trying to restore power.

November 2006: A German power company switches off a high voltage line over a river to let a cruise ship pass. It triggers outages for 10 million people in Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Aug. 18, 2005: An imbalanced power grid kicks power plants offline in Indonesia leaves almost 100 million people in the dark, many for more than five hours.

July 12, 2004: Heavy use of air conditioners and other factors are blamed for blackouts affecting at least 7 million people in Greece just a month before the summer Olympic games.

Sept. 28, 2003: A short in a power line in Switzerland leads to blackouts affecting 95 percent of Italy. Some 55 million people are without power for as long as 18 hours.

Aug. 14, 2003: The worst U.S. blackout. Power line problems in the Midwest trigger a cascade of breakdowns that cut power to 50 million people in eight states and Canada, some for more than a day.

March 11, 1999: Lightning hits a power substation in Brazil's Sao Paulo state, leaving 97 million people without power for as long as five hours. An official says it is linked to transmission lines from the Itaipu dam.

March 1989: A solar geomagnetic storm knocks out power to 6 million people in the Canadian province of Quebec and parts of the U.S. for nine hours.

July 13, 1977: A lightning bolt knocks out electricity to about 8 million people in New York City. Power isn't fully restored until 25 hours later after widespread looting.

Nov. 9, 1965: The Great Blackout shakes Americans' faith in the power system. A faulty substation relay darkens New York City and thousands of square miles of the U.S. northeast for about 14 hours. Power is out for 25 million people. It inspires the popular film, Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?