66 special trains for Puri Rath Yatra

October 10th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik Saturday created a four-foot high sand sculpture on Orissa's Puri beach to congratulate US President Barack Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Pattnaik created images of Obama and the Nobel Prize bearing the message "Let peace prevail" on the beach in his home town Puri, 56 km from here, using about three tonnes of sand.

September 16th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Six pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh on their way back from Orissa's temple town of Puri were killed when their bus was hit by a speeding truck, police said Thursday. Three more people were critically injured in the incident that took place late Wednesday in Bhadrak district.

July 9th, 2009 SHIMLA - Three holiday special trains being run daily on the world heritage Kalka-Shimla rail line in Himachal Pradesh to meet the tourist rush have been suspended, a railway official said Thursday. "The railways have stopped plying of three holiday special trains that run to and fro daily on the Kalka-Shimla rail line.

June 26th, 2009 BARIPADA - It's a tug of equality. For women in the small town of Baripada that has come alive during the Jagannath rath yatra, pulling the chariot of goddess Subhadra is as much about empowerment as it is about tradition.

June 26th, 2009 BARIPADA - It's a tug of equality. For women in the small town of Baripada that has come alive during the Jagannath rath yatra, pulling the chariot of goddess Subhadra is as much about empowerment as it is about tradition.

June 24th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The annual rath yatra (chariot festival) of Lord Jagannath got underway in Ahmedabad Wednesday with 15,000 state policemen and central forces providing tight security along the 14-km route. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi performed 'puja' at the Jagannath temple in the city before the main chariot of Lord Jagannath started trundling at 8 a.m.

June 16th, 2009 SRINAGAR - The first batch of pilgrims left the Baltal base camp Tuesday for the holy Amarnath cave shrine in Jammu and Kashmir. More than 10,000 pilgrims, who had reached the Baltal base camp in north Kashmir Ganderbal district Monday, started their 14-km mountain trek towards the holy cave Tuesday morning.

June 15th, 2009 JAMMU - Amid shouts of "Bam bam bhole", the traditional cry hailing Hindu god Shiva, the first batch of more than 2,500 pilgrims left early Monday morning for this year's annual pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir. Pilgrims from various parts of the country, especially Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana moved in 73 vehicles - 43 buses and 30 light motors - on their nearly 400 km journey from Jammu to Baltal.

June 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Nearly 50 volunteers of the Delhi Metro Citizens' Forum Wednesday went on a special drive on Metro trains and stations to check indisciplined commuters. About 50 volunteers are on a special drive to check indiscipline inside the Metro trains and stations dividing themselves into two groups who travelled on the Dwarka Sector 9 to Yamuna Bank and Dilshad Garden to Rithala routes, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation spokesperson Anuj Dayal said.

April 28th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Preparations for the annual 'Ratha Yatra' or the chariot festival of the famed Jagannath temple in Orissa's Puri town is underway, with carpenters and priests performing several rituals for the religious event beginning June 24. The priests performed rituals to purify the wooden logs used to construct the chariots for deities, said Laxmidhar Puja Panda, spokesperson of the temple administration.

April 20th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik has found a unique way of asking people to elect the right leader for the country - he has created sculptures of Parliament House and some top leaders on the Puri beach in Orissa. The sand sculptures include a five feet high image of Parliament House and images of important leaders of political parties, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) L.K.

April 2nd, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Orissa's ruling Biju Janata Dal Thursday denied nomination to former union minister and senior leader Braja Kishor Tripathy, triggering his resignation from the party. Tripathy's name was missing from the second list of candidates the party announced for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

February 4th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Ten students of an engineering college in Orissa's Puri district were arrested Thursday for assaulting their juniors, police said. The fourth year students of Ghanashyam Hemalata Institute of Technology and Management on the Puri-Konark marine drive, some 70 km from here, allegedly attacked a group of third year students Wednesday for not obeying their orders.

January 19th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik Tuesday has created on Orissa's Puri beach a huge sculpture of the White House with Barack Obama in front of it. The four-foot high colourful sculpture, created by the artist and his students, bears the message 'Change Has Happened'.

January 11th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Police have filed charges against an Australian doctor accused of sexually abusing 11 boys in an orphanage in Orissa's Puri town, officials said Monday. Alan Herbert Rose alias Paul Allen, 65 who worked as a volunteer medical consultant at the orphanage in Puri, 56 km from the state capital, was arrested Nov 12, 2008 after Mary Ellen, the French founder of the orphanage, lodged a complaint with the police Nov 5.