Rishikesh, Sep 24: A decades-old mosque in the Ramgarh Range of Uttarakhand’s Rajaji Tiger Reserve has been sealed in a joint operation by the sanctuary administration and police.

Ramgarh Range Forest Officer Ajay Dhyani said the mosque, located on 0.0008 hectares of forest land in the Asha Rodi Forest Beat of the range, was sealed in compliance with a Supreme Court order issued on September 3.

He explained that the apex court order prohibits any human activity within the sanctuary premises.

The officer said after the mosque was sealed in the presence of the police force, a warning board was put up outside the structure, cautioning that violators would face legal action under forest laws.

He said after the Forest Department objected to the mosque, some people approached the Supreme Court against it. However, the government strongly argued in court, pointing out that the mosque was built on protected forest land within the sanctuary, where human activities are prohibited by law.

Kolkata, Sep 23: Torrential overnight rain left Kolkata paralysed on Tuesday, killing at least seven people due to electrocution and bringing life in the metropolis to a grinding halt as large swathes were submerged, transport services crippled, and traffic movement thrown out of gear.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the downpour as “unprecedented”, lashing out at poor dredging of the Farakka barrage and lapses by private power utility CESC, while appealing to people to stay indoors for their own safety. “I have never seen rain like this. I feel so bad for the people who have lost their lives in the cloudburst. I heard 7–8 people have died due to electrocution by open or unattended wires. It is so unfortunate… Their families must all be given jobs by the CESC. I am saying this clearly. We will also do whatever is possible to help,” Banerjee told a Bengali news channel.

Heavy overnight rains brought Kolkata to its knees on Tuesday as the city was preparing for its biggest festival, Durga Puja, which will begin later this week.

Squarely blaming the utility, she said, “Electricity is supplied by CESC, not us. It is their duty to ensure people do not suffer because of this. They will do business here, but not modernise here? They should send people to the field and fix this.”

“Even our houses are submerged; we are all suffering. I am feeling so bad for the Pujo pandals as well. Schools have been asked to declare holidays and office-goers advised to stay home today and tomorrow,” the chief minister said, adding she was in constant touch with the Mayor, Chief Secretary and police. Those who lost their lives were identified as Firoz Ali Khan (50) of Beniapukur, Pranatosh Kundu (62) of Netaji Nagar, and Mumtaz Bibi (70) of Ekbalpur, besides an unidentified person in Gariahat.

Kolkata Mayor and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said, “So far, we have received information of four deaths due to electrocution in different places in the city, but later official tallies placed the figure at seven. Hakim said that most parts of the city were waterlogged and teams of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) were working round the clock to drain out water. He said KMC officers are working hard. But the canals and rivers are full of water and every time water is drained out, more is getting inside the city.

“We fear that the high tide which is around 1.30 PM today, may not help in our efforts to drain out the excessive water. It would be around 10 PM when the situation could be expected to improve,” Hakim said. Across the city, vehicles lay stranded on arterial roads, commuters waded through waist-deep water at several intersections, and Metro services were suspended on a long stretch of the Blue Line.

Traffic movement was severely affected at key intersections such as Park Circus, Gariahat, Behala and College Street, while long snarls were reported on EM Bypass, AJC Bose Road and Central Avenue. Several smaller lanes in south and central Kolkata were completely cut off.

Commuters complained of buses breaking down mid-way, while taxis and app cabs either stayed off the roads or charged exorbitant fares. Many schools declared a holiday as students and staff could not make their way through flooded streets. Calcutta University and Jadavpur University also suspended all academic activities for the day.

Office-goers faced severe hardships due to lack of public transport and traffic snarls. Train and Metro Railway services were badly hit. Significant waterlogging was reported in the mid-section of the Blue Line (Dakshineswar–Shahid Khudiram), particularly between Mahanayak Uttam Kumar and Rabindra Sarobar stations, prompting suspension of services on this stretch.

The intensity of the downpour was higher in the southern and eastern parts of Kolkata, the KMC said. Garia Kamdahari recorded 332 mm of rainfall in just a few hours, followed by Jodhpur Park (285 mm), Kalighat (280 mm), Topsia (275 mm) and Ballygunge (264 mm). Thantania in north Kolkata received 195 mm. The weather office warned of heavy rainfall continuing in Purba and Paschim Medinipur, South 24 Parganas, Jhargram and Bankura districts till Wednesday. It added that another fresh low-pressure area is likely to form over the east-central and adjoining north Bay of Bengal around September 25.

New Delhi, Sep 23: Stating that India must move from “Make in India” to “Think in India,” Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday said that ‘Operation Sindoor’ demonstrated the positive impact of self-reliant technology, and the need of the hour is to remain ahead of evolving threats.

Addressing the inaugural session of the Tri Services Academia Technology Symposium (T-SATS) at the Manekshaw Centre, the Army Chief, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said, “We have to encourage domestic ideation, innovation, and system development by industry, think tanks, and academia.”

He compared technological adaptation in warfare to a game of chess, saying that failing to think ahead would lead to setbacks.

He said, “While indigenous scalability has been shown, further investment in niche technology and enterprise-scale implementation is required.”

He said India’s proposed air defence system, Sudarshan Chakra, would integrate multiple protective layers, starting with counter-drone systems and extending to counter-UAV and counter-hypersonic systems. “Some elements cannot not be discussed publicly for security reasons but I assure you that it’s one of the best systems in the world,” he added.

The Army Chief said the system would combine sensors, missiles, surveillance apparatus, and artificial intelligence tools to provide both defence and offensive capabilities.

According to him, the concept was in the ideation phase but would be comprehensive in scope. He cautioned that adversaries were also improving their capabilities, pointing to the drones encountered during Operation Sindoor, which had shown advanced features including the use of artificial intelligence and visual navigation even after GPS jamming.

He said India’s counter-drone and GPS-jamming systems had performed effectively during the operation, minimising damage. However, he added that similar results could not be assumed in the future because adversaries would adapt once they understood India’s current capabilities.

He cited examples from the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war, where relatively inexpensive drones had caused significant damage to costly military assets. He said this reflected the cycle of innovation and adaptation in warfare, where the side adapting faster gained an advantage.

He said self-reliance provided not only independence but also the ability to surprise an adversary. Such surprises, he added, could only be used once before the other side learned, requiring continuous innovation.

He said the economic dimension of war also needed to be considered. Drones were now both military and commercial assets, and their wider use would affect security as well as the economy.

General Dwivedi said Mission Sudarshan Chakra would aim to integrate multiple defence layers and advanced systems, keeping India ahead of adversaries while remaining economically viable.

A new portal was launched ahead of the symposium to connect researchers and academic institutes across the country, and the response had been substantial.