WEEK IN REVIEW Alarming decrease in water level The situation regarding water level in reservoirs is becoming increasingly alarming with the approach of summer. All the reservoirs of the island has witnessed more or less a drastic fall in water level in recent months. To cope with this situation, the authorities have worked out an action plan to control the situation. Bhishek Narain, head of communications of the CWA, talked about the reasons for the fall in our reservoirs: “There has been a dry winter. May was very low in terms of rainfall. The last time there was such a low percentage of rainfall was in 1985,” he said. Midlands Dam is the most affected with a fill rate of 50.7%. Mare aux Vacoas, the largest reservoir of the island is filled to 64% of its capacity. It is the same for Piton-du-Milieu, which is just below 64%. La Ferme is at 33.8% of its capacity. Mare-Longue displays a rate of 72% and La Nicolière a rate of 71%.
4 - 10 October 2013 l N° 901 l PAGE 6
‘Salon du Prêt-à-Partir’
a success
Exit Ganoo, Enter Bérenger
Alan Ganoo has resigned from his post as Leader of the Opposition on Tuesday. He submitted his resignation letter to the President of the Republic, Kailash Purryag. This move was to allow Paul Bérenger get back his post “as previously agreed”. Alan Ganoo feels a “sense of accomplishment”. “The five months as leader of the Opposition were a personal satisfaction. I had the opportunity to serve my party and my country.” Bérenger is back to political business after undergoing a treatment in France for his throat ailment.
Chedumbrum at the CCID
Preety Chedumbrum, the ex-wife of Narain Chedumbrum, the teacher of the Mauritius Institute of Training and Development [MITD] and who was accused of having an affair with one of his students of 14 years, was interrogated at the Central CID [CCID] on October 2. She was allowed to go home after the enquiry. Preety Chedumbrum was convened in the wake of the investigation into the alleged affair between her ex-husband and the teenager. Her lawyer, Roubina Jadoo said that she was called as a witness to give her version of events: “She maintained what she had said in her affidavit, which was voluntarily. She had reported a crime, which according to her, has been committed by several persons.”
Severely burnt while cooking
Hema S., a resident of Vacoas was severely burnt while cooking in her kitchen on Monday. Her loud screams alerted her husband who was on the first floor. He rushed to the scene only to see his 33-year-old wife lying down with her blouse on fire. He quickly grabbed a towel and doused the flames. Hema was burnt at the abdomen, hands and face. She was transported to Victoria Hospital. Police do not suspect foul play. In a separate incident, a fire broke out in a house at Eau-Coulée on Wednesday morning. A college student aged 18 was lightly burnt on her hands, mouth and body. In her statement to police, the student confided that she had a ‘briquet’ (cigarette lighter) in her hands while she was cleaning her nails with nail polish when the fire broke out.
THE ‘Salon du Prêt-à-Partir’ held from 27 to 29 September 2013 was a huge success. Organised by Events Plus, in collaboration with the Defi Media Group and Radio Plus, the event was a unique opportunity for thousands of Mauritians to live a three-day dream and to find out about exciting offers in the tourism and leisure sector. The exhibition brought under one roof various organizations engaged in tourism and leisure activities. The objective of Event Plus was to promote international tourism and local tourism, encourage exchanges between tourism professionals and visitors, inform the visitor about the leisure activities offered in Mauritius,
about the procedures to be followed before travelling, highlight the history of aviation and airport of Mauritius through a cultural space and to educate visitors to sustainable tourism. Like in an airport, the exhibition was divided into four terminals comprising of different gates which will correspond to specific industries: Terminal 1, the world; Terminal 2, Discover Mauritius; Terminal 3, Logistics and Terminal 4, Discovery and Information. Air Mauritius, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority and Air France were the main partners of the event. (Photos on pages 20-21 ).
Cattle thieves nabbed
Since the beginning of the year, police stations around the island have recorded several complaints regarding cattle theft. The recent case took place on a farm at Camp-Carol, Le-Bouchon, where seven bulls were stolen in the early hours of Wednesday. Plaine-Magnien police was alerted. The market value of the stolen cattle is estimated at Rs700,000. It took the police only half a day to trace the suspects and the seven stolen bulls were found at Brisée-Verdière. The culprits, Ishfaaq Antoaroo aged 26, Anwar Joomun aged 34, Sahil Jawally and Ibne Fazil Saifula Ali, aged 22 quickly confessed upon interrogation. They had used the truck of Anwar Joomun to transport the stolen bulls. The four suspects revealed they planned to slaughter the cattle and sell the meat. They were provisionally charged of “larceny more than two in number” at Mahebourg District Court. Police suspects more people could be involved in the gang. Le Défi Quotidien brought the issue of stolen cattle to light in its issue of 19 September 2013, following complaints from cow breeders who made a number of suggestions to help tackle the issue.
Relax, no Aliens in sight
REPORTS ABOUT a fuzzy-looking unidentified flying object streamed in from observers all over Mauritius on Sunday night. The ‘UFO’ was also sighted in southern Africa and Reunion. The sightings came about an hour after the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket’s launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9 a.m. PT (noon ET) on Sunday. There was much speculation over the “strange moonlike object” seen from our island, as well as from Botswana, Malawi and South Africa.
Many wondered whether it was a UFO, a satellite or a star cluster. But the NBC, an American television channel, provided the explanation on its site: After sending several satellites into a pole-to-pole orbit, the Falcon’s second stage released its leftover fuel, which is standard procedure to avoid a blowup during its atmospheric re-entry. “This release by chance coincided with sunset beneath that part of the orbit, as the booster and
its deployed satellites flew from south to north directly over Madagascar, about 850 miles high,” NBC News space analyst James Oberg explained. Sunlight set the cloud of rocket fuel aglow. This sort of phenomenon has been seen many times before and the bottom line is that you can expect an uptick in UFO reports anytime there’s a rocket launch, particularly when the rocket is blazing a new trail, like this brand-new breed of Falcon.