RCom adds 2.8 mn users

RCom adds 2.8 mn users

NEW DELHI, July 19: Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communications (RCom) on Monday said it has added 2.8 million new wireless subscribers in June this year, taking its total subscriber base to 110 million.

The company added 2.8 million wireless subscribers on its GSM and CDMA platforms in the month of June, RCom said in a statement. RCom offers telephony services on both GSM and CDMA platforms.

The company has added 8.4 million new wireless customers in this quarter, the spokesperson said.

With an addition of 16.3 million new users in May, the total wireless subscribers in the country were 617.53 million at the end of May 2010, according to the sectoral regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. (PTI)

Naidu, colleagues sent to Aurangabad jail

Naidu, colleagues sent to Aurangabad jail

Nanded/Hyderabad, July 20: Amid high drama, protests by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders and caning by the police, party chief Chandrababu Naidu and his supporters were Tuesday moved from Dharmabad in Maharashtra’s Nanded district to the Aurangabad Central Jail.

Naidu and his colleagues, who were remanded to judicial custody till July 26, will be lodged at the Aurangabad Central Jail, located in Harsul on the outskirts of the historic city, a police official said.

The leaders, including Naidu, had entered Dharmabad town, around eight kilometres from the Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh border in Nanded district, to protest against the Babhali Barrage on the Godavari river Friday.

FM sticks to 8.5% growth despite higher IMF forecast

FM sticks to 8.5% growth despite higher IMF forecast

New Delhi, July 19: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said he will not be swayed by the IMF’s higher growth projection of 9.5 per cent but will stick to his conservative outlook of about 8.5 per cent plus economic expansion for the current fiscal.

“Always, we have dispute with the IMF. I was inclined to accept the IMF assessment for India’s growth for the year when they projected it 9.4-9.5 per cent. But I am being conservative in my assessment...I will be happy with 8.5 per cent plus growth,” Mukherjee told a conference on financial inclusion hosted by industry body CII here.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had hiked the country’s growth forecast for 2010 to 9.5 per cent from its April projection of 8.8 per cent.

Train tragedy in West Bengal again - 61 dead, 157 injured

Train tragedy in West Bengal again - 61 dead, 157 injured

Sainthia (West Bengal), July 19: A speeding express train ploughed through a train standing at a station in West Bengal’s Birbhum district early on Monday, killing at least 61 people and injuring more than 150. It was the second train disaster in the Communist-ruled state in less than two months that have taken a toll of over 200 lives.

The Sealdah-bound Uttar Banga Express slammed into three coaches, one luggage van and two unreserved second class coaches, of the stationary Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express at Sainthia station in Birbhum, about 190 km from Kolkata, at about 2.15 a.m., railway authorities said. All three coaches were badly mangled by the severity of the collision with one of the coaches shooting from the tracks and almost mounting the footbridge above. Gas cutters were used to cut open the coaches and bring out the dead and rescue the injured.