Nude-yoga guru and alleged rape-victim to enter Bigg Boss 7

According to the last night telecast, Bigg Boss 7 contestants will now experience a new change in the house with no heaven and hell concept. That means, all the contestants have to accommodate together under one roof which will surely create the much needed drama which was missing from the house.

If that was not enough to entertain the viewers, a new contestant is all set to enter the house as a wild card entry post Asif Azim. So now who's that new contestant entering in the house? He is a guy called Vivek Mishra.

Vivek Mishra, a yoga teacher by profession, is known for his notorious nude yoga techniques. Mishra, in the past, has also accused Shweta Tiwari's ex-husband and actor Raja Chaudhary of attempting to rape him. Vivek Mishra will enter the Bigg Boss house in tonight's episode.

Sounds interesting profile to be in the Bigg Boss house, isn't it?

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Ricky Ponting rakes up 'Monkeygate', questions Sachin Tendulkar's role

MELBOURNE: The ghost of 'Monkeygate' has risen again with former Australian captain Ricky Ponting questioning Sachin Tendulkar's role in the scandal, claiming that he was taken aback by the senior Indian batsman's statement which saved Harbhajan Singh.

In his memoirs -- titled 'The Close of Play' -- Ponting said he didn't understand why Tendulkar vouched for Harbhajan during the appeal hearing but did not say anything when match referee Mike Procter initially suspended the spinner for passing allegedly racial comments at all-rounder Andrew Symonds.

"I couldn't understand why Sachin didn't tell this to (match referee) Mike Procter in the first place," Ponting, captain of Australia at that time, wrote on the role of Tendulkar, who would retire from the game after his 200th Test next month.

Harbhajan was accused of calling Symonds a monkey during the 2008 Sydney Test and was suspended for three Tests. But he was cleared in an appeal hearing, conducted by Justice John Hansen from New Zealand, in which Tendulkar appeared as a witness and gave a statement in favour of the Indian.

Ponting is not the first cricketer to question Tendulkar's role in the scandal as retired wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist had taken a similar view in his autobiography five years ago.

Ponting, in his recollection of the drama that unfolded, said he found it absurd when Harbhajan was merely fined after the incident which threatened to hurt the relations between the two countries.

"Owing to an administrative error, the judge was never told about any of Harbhajan's past offences, which meant the penalty was way less than what it should have been," Ponting was quoted as saying in excerpts published by 'Daily Telegraph'.

"As I pondered this result over the weeks and months that followed, I started to think that I needed to be more savvy about the off-field politics", Ponting wrote.

"Maybe the Indian cricket juggernaut of the 21st century is too influential to shake. But then I thought about the way a number of people in the game had questioned our motives; how they thought we were just seeking an advantage rather than acting on principle," he added.

Ponting said the then Indian captain Anil Kumble's statement about the Aussies not playing in the spirit of the game damaged the team's cause.

"...I felt that there was a lot of hypocrisy about the 'Monkeygate' scandal...Mike Procter heard all the evidence and found Harbhajan guilty. The next day, the Indians responded by threatening to go home," Ponting wrote.

"Because (captain Anil) Kumble's uncontested line about 'Australia playing outside the spirit of the game' received so much attention, quickly the belief spread that it was us, not Procter's judgement, that provoked the trouble," he said.

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Himalayan mystery solved? The Yeti existed, finds British geneticist

LONDON: One of the greatest mysteries of the Himalayas may have finally been solved.

Genetic testing has led scientists to believe that the abominable snowman - the Yeti, actually existed but it was actually a cross between an ancient polar bear and brown bear.

Hair samples from what is believed to be that of the Yeti have been found to genetically match that of an ancient polar bear dating back 120,000 years.

Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University, conducted the research.

Dr Sykes has over many years assembled substantial physical evidence, which he has subjected to the most sophisticated DNA tests available, to answer scientifically the mystery of Bigfoot.

The professor said "This is an exciting and completely unexpected result".

Dr Sykes however said the finding does not mean ancient polar bears are still wandering around the Himalayas.

"But it could mean there is a sub species of brown bear in the high Himalayas which descended from the bear that was the ancestor of the polar bear. Or it could mean there has been more recent hybridisation between the brown bear and the descendent of the ancient polar bear," Dr Sykes said.

Bone chilling stories of the horrifying Yeti have been synonymous to the Himalayas for centuries with local people and some of the world's greatest mountaineers including legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who became the first man to climb Everest without oxygen, claiming to have had a terrifying encounter with a large hairy, ape-like creature.

Himalayan folk lore is rife with tales of an elusive beast that have hardly been photographed.

Professor Sykes has collected and tested hair samples of several animals found in the Himalayas.

He tested two ancient hair samples which locals of high Himalayan villages claimed were that of the Yeti. One of the samples was that of an animal found in Ladakh (India) and the other from Bhutan, 800 miles away.

The DNA tests then compared the results to other animals' genomes stored on the GenBank database. Professor Sykes to his amazement found a 100% match with a sample from an ancient polar bear jawbone found in Svalbard, Norway, that dates back at least 40,000 years - and probably around 120,000 years.

This has made professor Sykes believe that the most likely explanation is that the Yeti is actually a hybrid between polar bears and brown bears.

A Yeti footprint on the base of Mount Everest taken by British climber Eric Shipton sparked a global interest in the abominable snowman post 1951.

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Boss: is not always right!

Director: Anthony D'Souza
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Ronit Roy, Mithun Chakravarthy

They say 'the boss is always right'. So when almost everything about the film is wrong, you are still not supposed to question anything. A general viewer reaction to the mediocrity of this film was 'what else do you expect from a film like this?' So with the frequent flow of such unapologetically self-proclaimed mindless action films, our basic expectations are so downsized that even distasteful dishes have turned easily edible.

Boss is a typical example of 'fast food' flick. The action sequences are tossed in slow-motion while the narrative cooks at breakneck speed. Every ingredient from the stunt shot-takings, villain sidekicks and action directors are reused to repetitive effect. It is simmered with the usual seasoning suspects of Sonakshi Sinha and Prabhu Deva. And finally garnished with Honey Singh songs and redone retro numbers. Yet the base recipe, which dates back to the 80s, is unoriginal and is rather derived from South.

Director Anthony D'Souza last took us down the drain [oops deep-sea] in his underwater offing Blue. He still struggles to resurface here by making Akshay Kumar repeat his character's custom-made punch-line apne ko toh bus 'paani' nikalna hain. Alas D'Souza is unable to save the sinking ship this time either.

The story sticks to every cliche from the old book of potboilers. There is a corrupt minister. His debauched son is in love with the heroine. But the heroine's love is the hero. But the heroine's brother is the villain. And when the villain beats the hero, enters the big brother who is the big hero aka the boss.

The side-hero [Shiv Pandit] and the side-heroine [Aditi Rao Hydari] finish their portions in the first act after which they are sidelined throughout. The Boss [Akshay Kumar] makes a delayed entry and then more than makes up for it by his overindulgence throughout. The screenplay alternates between a fight sequence and a song number and practically nothing much happening in between.

You have to give it to Akshay Kumar to be able to pull off his tomfoolery with his casual charm. However mundane the action is and however predictable the plot is, he still manages to bring in an element of unfussy freshness to his character. Unfortunately he is unable to singlehandedly bear the burden of the entire film in absence of freshness and female lead.

Aditi Rao Hydari goes into hiding after showing off in a red bikini. Shiv Pandit doesn't get any scope either. Mithun Chakravarthy is theatrical. Danny is functional. Govind Namdeo hams as always. But it's Ronit Roy as the negative lead who boasts of good screen presence. His character is, more or less, an extension of what he played in Udaan but in a more formulaic setup here. And thereby it's too sketchy rather than being sketched properly.

So once again while on one side it's said that the boss is always right, on the other side not many look up to a boss who is unable to look beyond himself. The choice is yours!

Verdict: Average

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US ship with arms was in Indian waters for a month

CHENNAI: The seizure of MV Seaman Guard Ohio off Tuticorin in southern Tamil Nadu for carrying heavy weapons and ammo on board without clearance has once again exposed chinks in Indian maritime security. Sources told TOI that the ship owned by a US-based security firm named AdvanFort was in Indian waters for nearly a month and was spotted repeatedly before it was intercepted and detained on Saturday.

The vessel berthed in Kochi on August 23 to pick up provisions but no declaration was made of arms on board. It sailed out after three days for Sharjah and then returned to Indian waters, said sources in the office of the director general of shipping. There have been concerns of unregulated floating armouries moving in the Indian Ocean region. These vessels claim to provide security to merchant vessels against pirates and offer storage of arms for a fee when the ships visit a port where weapons aren't allowed.

The Union home ministry has now sought a report from the state after the interception of the vessel by the Coast Guard. The case was investigated by the marine police wing before being handed over to the intelligence branch.

However, experts feel that the intelligence wing of TN police, which has been handed over the probe, is ill-equipped to deal with a case that demands knowledge of maritime technology. Commodore R S Vasan, former eastern regional commander of Indian Coast Guard, said the investigation should be handed over to National Investigation Agency (NIA). The Union home ministry's own protocol evolved after the Mumbai attacks suggests that such a case should be handed over to NIA or CBI. The mercantile marine department (MMD), which has expertise in retrieving voyage data records, too, is yet to step in.

Preliminary investigations found that the Sierra Leone flag-bearing MV Seaman Guard Ohio, which earlier bore the name Kaio Maru, entered Indian waters by the second week of September, after it left Sharjah. Sources said the Indian Coast Guard had repeatedly spotted the vessel in the last four weeks, but chose not to inspect it, for unknown reasons. "This is a major security breach," said a senior security official. Only at 10.30pm on October 11 did the coast guard assign a tracking vessel. At 3.30am on Saturday, it intercepted the ship 12 nautical miles east of Tuticorin port. The ship was found to be carrying 31 assault weapons and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. On board were 10 crew members and 25 'security guards'.

Officials at the Kochi Port Said the vessel did not make any declaration of arms when it was berthed on August 23. "On statutory provisions, it sailed out on August 26 without any inspections on board," said an official.

Maritime safety experts who are advisers to central investigation agencies said lack of coordination between different agencies delaying a proper investigation might spoil chances of retrieving crucial communication including its voyage details. "There is no logic to the delay in handing over the case to NIA or CBI," said a consultant to NIA on maritime affairs. "We should not forget that a two-week delay in retrieving satellite and communication data from Italian vessel Enrica Lexie helped the crew members tamper with evidence."

The MMD headquarters in Chennai said they are not yet part of the investigation. Sources in the investigation team said they are yet to retrieve voyage date recorder (considered the 'black box' of a vessel) and other communication equipment on board the vessel, which would help reveal the route, communication and wireless messages the ship transmitted since it entered the Indian waters.

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Ind vs Aus: Rohit Sharma's blazing ton keeps India on course to victory

JAIPUR: The immensely talented Rohit Sharma smashed a brilliant century to keep India on course to victory in the second one-day international in Jaipur on Wednesday.

Scorecard | Match in Pics

Rohit, who also put up a sensational 100-plus run partnership with star batsman Virat Kohli, reached his century in 102 balls with 11 boundaries and 3 scintillating sixes to his credit.

The aggressive Kohli also completed his 26th one-day international half-century in just 27 balls with the help of 3 boundaries and 4 impeccable sixes.

Kohli started his onslaught as soon as Shikhar Dhawan fell short of a well-deserved century after an impressive 176-run opening wicket partnership with Rohit.

The Rohit-Shikhar duo looked in no mood to show mercy towards the Australian bowlers as they put up the record opening wicket partnership against Australia.

However, Shikhar (95) was dismissed by James Faulkner when the Oz bowler had the south paw caught behind by Brad Haddin. Shikhar hit 14 smashing boundaries in his 86-ball knock.

Earlier, Australian batsmen yet again took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners as they scored a massive 359 for five, equaling their highest ever total against India.

Led from the front by their skipper George Bailey (92 not out), the Australian batsmen made merry of a listless Indian attack on a good Sawai Man Singh Stadium track with as many as five of them notching up 50-plus scores.

This incidentally is Australia's highest total on Indian soil surpassing their previous best of 350 for four in Hyderabad in 2009. This total also equalled their highest ever total of 359 for two against India made during 2003 World Cup final in South Africa as well as 359 for four in a VB Series match in Sydney back in 2004.

Phil Hughes (83), Aaron Finch (50), Shane Watson (59) set up the platform for skipper Bailey and Glenn Maxwell (53) to finish the innings with a flourish.

Indian bowlers conceded 122 runs in the last 10 overs of the innings as Bailey and Maxwell sent the Indian attack on a leather-hunt putting on a staggering 96 runs in only 8.3 overs for the fourth wicket.

Bailey bludgeoned the Indian bowling as he faced only 50 balls in his unbeaten innings, hitting eight fours and five sixes.

Both Ishant Sharma (0/70 in 9 overs) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0/54 in 10 overs) lacked penetration as both Finch and Hughes negotiated the duo with ease.

The third seamer R Vinay Kumar was guilty of bowling either too short or only slower deliveries and it only added to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's woes. Vinay (2/73 in 9 overs) had the worst figures among the pacers.

The worst among the Indian bowlers was though left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja (0/72 from 10 overs) and Yuvraj Singh (0/35 from four overs) and the duo gave away 107 runs in 11 overs between them. Ravichandran Ashwin (1/50 from eight overs) fared marginally better.

While Finch, as usual, was at his attacking best, Hughes complemented him by playing the second fiddle to perfection. Any width outside the off-stump was dealt with severity by Finch, who also pulled a slow bouncer from Vinay Kumar for a six to complete his second successive half-century of the series.

Just when it looked like the well-built Victorian was gearing up for a big knock, he failed to beat a direct throw from Suresh Raina stationed at mid-on. Finch scored 50 off 53 balls with seven fours and a six as the opening partnership again proved to be productive, yielding 74 runs.

Hughes took his own sweet time to settle down as he showed some assured footwork against spinners Ashwin and Jadeja. He completed his 50 off 68 balls and brought up the team's hundred with a big six over deep mid-wicket off Jadeja's bowling. His 83 came off 108 balls with eight fours and a six.

Once Finch was gone, Watson took over. He did not attack from the word go but once he settled down, the all-rounder was in a mood to punish India's 'spin twins'.

Both Jadeja and Ashwin were guilty of bowling a lot of half-trackers as Watson time and again rocked on his back-foot to punch it through the region between mid-wicket and deep mid-wicket. Even one of his unintended airy shot off Jadeja's bowling also went for maximum while Ashwin's short delivery was dispatched into the stands.

It was rush of blood that became Watson's undoing as he was finally dismissed for a quick-fire 59 off 53 balls.

Having swatted a couple short balls from Vinay to the boundary, Watson failed to connect another rising delivery trying to hit a six as he was caught at the long-on boundary by Ishant.

He hit six boundaries and three sixes adding 108 runs for the second wicket with Hughes in only 16.4 overs to set the platform for others to cash in.

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Flipkart founders get million-dollar paychecks

BANGALORE: It pays to be an entrepreneur. And here is - India's e-commerce poster boys are flaunting their million-dollar paychecks in less than six years after starting Flipkart. Flikpart founders and IITians Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal took home a handsome remuneration of Rs 10.25 crore ($1.7 million at current forex rates) each in the six months between September 2011 and March 2012, showed the latest filing with the corporate affairs ministry.

The filings closely followed a restructuring of the Flipkart ownership, which now rests with a Singapore-based holding company after the FY12 rejig. The jaw-dropping numbers even eclipse their American e-commerce peers, and is possibly a testimony to investor faith in the burgeoning domestic e-commerce story. Consider this: Darrell Cavens, co-founder and CEO of US-based Zulily, a shopping portal for moms, which recently filed for a $100-million IPO, took home $290,000 (Rs 1.74 crore) in the last calendar year, including bonus payout.

A detailed break-up of the remuneration of the two Flipkart founders wasn't available. A company spokesperson said that the Bansals get a base salary of Rs 50 lakh each per annum, while the other components include bonuses and possibly returns from share sales. "It's proof that entrepreneurship in India, if done right, can be extremely rewarding," said Sachin Bansal, CEO of the country's largest e-commerce company, Flipkart.

The website, which sells a host of items from books to mobiles phones to stationery and perfumes, has raised $540 million (nearly Rs 3,315 crore at latest forex rates) since 2007 from leading investors, including South African media giant Naspers, Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Dragoneer, Morgan Stanley, Sofina and Vulcan Capital. The latest $360-million fund-raise, which closed last week, valued the Bangalore-based company at $1.5 billion (over Rs 9,200 crore).

The Flipkart founders are said to have vested some of their shares in the last two rounds of fund-raise in the past 18 months, which is possibly swelling their remuneration. The Bansals, along with senior management, reportedly control about 25% of Flipkart, pegging their net worth at around $375 million (Rs 2,250 crore) at current valuation.

Flipkart is reporting an annualized gross merchandise sale (or total value of transaction) of about $600 million (over Rs 3,680 crore). It plans to take the annual gross sales to $1 billion (over Rs 6,100 crore) in the next 12 months before starting work on an overseas listing. Notwithstanding the challenges, India's e-commerce market is expected to touch $8.8 billion (over Rs 54,000 crore) in 2016, says research firm Forrester.

The Bansals' bulge-bracket salary is a big boost to the bleeding e-commerce industry that is coming under the scanner for not having sound business fundamentals. "This could be a one-off, considering that they've exercised their vesting options. It's rare, but it may also be a case of investor belief that exit is some time away and founder management must be well compensated," said Mukund Mohan, CEO-in-residence, Microsoft Accelerator.

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Who needs Google Street View? Indian brothers launch rival service Wonobo

BANGALORE: Who needs Google Street View! Even as the global search major struggles with Indian authorities to get permissions to take images of Indian city streets, a small Mumbai-based mapping company has done all that Google had planned, and perhaps more, for the top 54 Indian cities.

Genesys International, founded in 1995 by brothers Sol and Sajid Malik, have captured numerous images of almost every street in these cities, and stitched the images together to create 360-degree panoramic views of the streets, almost exactly the way Google has done in many other parts of the world.

On Tuesday, the company launched the service under the brand Wonobo (wonobo.com). The site suffered from a little latency on Tuesday, but the company says the speed will improve in a day or so as they get everything in place.

So how come they were able to do something that Google has not been able to yet in India? Sajid Malik told TOI that one advantage Genesys had was that they had been working with the government for many years for their mapping services. "For street view, the government, including the defence ministry and the Survey of India, threw a lot of regulations at us. We painstakingly fulfilled their requirements, including not taking pictures in sensitive areas," he said.

Genesys may also have the advantage of being a local company that's hosting the data in local servers. The company has so far been in the services business, creating map content for others such as Navteq (provider of electronic navigable maps), Nokia and Bing, and was involved recently in creating digital maps of Dubai, Mecca and Medina.

Wonobo street view is being launched initially for 12 cities -- Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur, Costal Goa, Kolkata, Agra, Pune. The remaining 42 cities will be launched over the following weeks.

Wonobo's main street view service provides a map on the left side of the screen and the street view on the right (you have the option of having a full-screen street view and keeping the map as a small box at the bottom). You can click any part of the map and get the corresponding street view. You can look all around a point on a street. You can click or drag on the street view to go down a street.

There's a search box to find locations. With the help of field staff, Wonobo has tagged some 10 million points of interest. That includes 4 million business locations. You can walk into some of these locations - like Novotel hotel in Mumbai - and look all around. Though the company is not charging Novotel now, these are potential revenue sources. For many of the small businesses tagged, it's their first web presence. "Any merchant can mention his suite of services, show real time prices or available inventory, showcase interiors. One of our revenue sources will be based on such hyper-local engagement," Sajid said.

Random checks we did on Wonobo showed that some of the images are a little dated, some important roads have not been covered yet, some of the tagging could have been better done. Search for Barton Centre, a landmark building on Bangalore's MG Road, and you get a view of an ugly electric transformer at the back of the building. The company says their effort is to ensure that images are no more than six months old.

The Wonobo platform also enables anybody to create pictorial storylines and guides. You could create a 'Sachin Tendulkar guide' that shows everything from the nursing home he was born in to the house he lives in now. You could create a street food guide or recommend a walking tour in a city. You can invite others to participate in creating your storyline, and you can even share your storylines on social media.

Wonobo is working with the Indian tourism department to showcase heritage sites, something that Google is also now doing, though Google is yet to get permissions for wider street views.

Bangalore startup Vidteq has done video images of streets in Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. But video requires greater bandwidth, and Vidteq does not provide panoramic views.

Wonobo has captured images in very high resolution, but the resolution used on the website is lower in order to reduce latency given our generally low internet speeds. Mobile will require even lower resolutions. "We will do a mobile app soon," Sajid said.

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Young Akbar from Maharana Pratap opts out of show

Young Akbar from Maharana Pratap opts out of show after being diagnosed with lymphoid leukemia

Sixteen-year-old child artiste Sahil Deshmukh has opted out of the TV show Bharat Ka Veer Putra — Maharana Pratap. Sahil, who plays Akbar in the show, had to quit owing to his ill health.

He has been hospitalised for over two weeks now and his family discovered his serious ailment just four days ago. Says his mother Reshma, "Our world has come crumbling down ever since we learnt he is suffering from lymphoid leukemia. He is our only child. He has been unwell for quite some time now and we had to rush him to the hospital after he had high fever. He underwent bone marrow transplant on Thursday and is taking shots on his spine. He will be discharged only after a month or so and the medication will continue for a couple of years or more depending on his recovery. He has been on saline and will soon begin his medication. The doctors have also suggested chemotherapy. We have been assured that it's curable, which is a blessing in disguise."

Arish to replace Sahil
Arish will now play young Akbar in the show. He had played the younger Hrithik Roshan in Agneepath (2012).

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​Cyclone Phailin hits 90 lakh people; 23 dead, lakhs of homes damaged

GOPALPUR/SRIKAKULAM: Cyclone Phailin on Sunday left a trail of destruction knocking down lakhs of homes affecting nearly 90 lakh people and destroying paddy crops worth about Rs 2,400 crore, but Odisha and Andhra Pradesh escaped from widespread loss of life.

As the largest evacuation efforts in the country's recent history helped keep casualties to the minimum, reports from the two states tonight said that 23 people died, all but two of them in Odisha. Most of the casualties were caused by wall collapse, uprooted trees and in floods.

Communication links were vastly disrupted by the strong winds that went upto a speed of 220 kmph when the "very severe" cyclonic storm crossed the coast near Gopalpur last night and weakened before turning into a depression. Ganjam district in Odisha bore the brunt of the storm.

According to IMD tonight, Phailin weakened further turning into "deep depression" with wind speed of 45-55 kmph and currently lay over northern Chhattisgarh, parts of Orissa and Jharkhand. According to M Mohapatra, scientist (Cyclone Warning Division) of the meteorology department, the "cyclonic storm" has now turned to "deep depression" with the wind speed of 45-55 kmph. It currently lays over northern Chhattisgarh, parts of Orissa and Jharkhand. It is expected to weaken further late tonight, he said.

A Panama-registered cargoship M V Bingo carrying iron ore was reported to have sunk in rough seas in the impact of the cyclone off the coast of West Bengal, but the crew were spotted in a lifeboat by a Coast Guard Dornier aircraft.

Authorities in Odisha evacuated nearly nine lakh people, the largest in recent history, ahead of the storm to cyclone shelters and public buildings like schools to avoid a repeat of the monstrous 1999 super cyclone in which nearly 10,000 people were killed.

"We are on the whole quite satisfied with the type of evacuation that was done," Vice chairman of National Disaster Management Authority M Shashidhar Reddy said. In Gopalpur, where the storm struck first, "almost 90-95% people had been evacuated".

Defence and paramilitary personnel were deployed to carry out relief and rehabilitation measures and restoring infrastructure badly affected by the storm.

The IMD earlier in the day said Phailin has weakened into a cyclonic storm with wind speed between 60 and 70 kmph.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik said the primary aim was to minimize loss of human lives and they have successfully managed to do so. "Property to the tune of several crores has been damaged...Rehabilitation will now be done."

Giving details of the devastation, Odisha revenue minister S N Patro said 14,514 villages in 12 districts have been affected, hitting a population of 80,53,620.

Over 2.34 lakh houses have been damaged and more than 8.73 lakh people evacuated.

Over five lakh hectares of standing crops have been destroyed by the gushing waters causing an estimated loss of Rs 2,400 crore, he said.
Power situation under control: Power ministry

There were some disturbances in electricity transmission due to cyclone Phailin which struck Odisha and Andhra Pradesh last night, but were attended to in time, the power ministry said.

"Required load and generation were managed in a balanced manner so as to secure stable transmission frequency," it said in a statement.

In Andhra Pradesh, the load was reduced to about 9,000 megawatt (MW) against normal demand of 10,000MW and in Odisha, it was 600MW against the normal demand of 2800MW.

Based on IMD information, extensive prior preparations were undertaken to tackle the effects of cyclone Phailin in the context of power requirements," it said.

Advance preparations were made to manage generation and load balance for unhindered and secure grid operation. Power stations in the region were also monitored, it further added.

As required load and generation were managed in a balanced manner so as to secure stable transmission frequency.

Also three Emergency Restoration Systems (ERS) of PGCIL were put on standby readiness in AP and Odisha for quick deployment in the event of damage.

The National Load Dispatch Centre under the control of POSOCO was operating 24 hrs and in touch with the regional dispatch centres of POSOCO and the state load dispatch centre (SLDC).

A high level team headed by additional secretary in the ministry was coordinating all the steps required including 2 hourly reports to all concerned, the statement further added.

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