Airtel launches free roaming scheme

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday launched a new roaming scheme for its prepaid customers in Delhi which will enable them to receive free incoming calls in five states.

"With this pack, Airtel prepaid mobile customers can now get up to 30 days of free incoming calls while travelling to Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and West Bengal (except Kolkata) on a recharge of Rs 21," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Airtel's Delhi customer at present are charged Re 1 for incoming calls, Re 1 for local outgoing calls and Rs 1.5 paise for STD calls on roaming, the company said.

Five polio cases detected in Bihar

Five new cases of polio have been detected in Bihar in the first two months of this year despite immunisation drive, an official in the state health department said on Saturday.

This is three less than in Uttar Pradesh, which has had the highest incidence of the infection during 2008, a Unicef official said.

"It is sad to admit that five new polio cases surfaced in the state till the end of February," the Bihar health official, who declined to be named, said.

The figures have raised an alarm across Bihar as many parents fear that their children might also catch the disease.

The Unicef official said of the five polio cases, two are P1 and three are P3 strain cases. "The detection of two new cases of P1 is a matter of serious concern," he added.

He said eight new cases of polio have been detected in Uttar Pradesh and one in Delhi till Feb 27. Of the eight cases in Uttar Pradesh, four are of P1 and P3 each.

The battle against polio is far from over in Bihar, which recorded the second highest incidence of the disease in India last year after neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

Bihar recorded 233 new polio cases in 2008, one of the highest since the polio immunisation drive was launched in the state nearly a decade ago, an official had said.

Bihar recorded 61 polio cases in 2006 and 193 cases in 2007.link

3000 tortoise seized in Bihar

More than 3000 live tortoise being smuggled to Kolkata was seized at a place in Bihar Gaya district.

Superintendent of Police, R Malar Vizzi said, "The tortoises were seized at a checkpost near Barachatti manned by forest department officials. They were being smuggled from Uttar Pradesh to Kolkata."

She said a jeep was carrying the tortoises contained in 30 bags. A case under Wildlife Violation Act has been registered and the driver of the vehicle Reyaz Ahmed was arrested.

The tortoises were being smuggled from Akbarpur in Uttar Pradesh to Kolkata, she said.link