Prithvi missile launch on Sunday

'Prithvi,' India's most sophisticated surface-to-surface medium-range missile, ''will be launched on Sunday from the interim test range at Chandipur, about 15 km from Balasore, in Orissa," official sources in Balasore said on Friday said.

The Balasore district authority on Friday issued a notification asking for temporary evacuation of the people residing in four villages close to the range for facilitating launching of the missile on February 23.

The sources said about 728 people, including 261 children, residing in Jayadev Kasaba, Kushumali, Bhimpur, and Sahajanpur villages, located within a one-kilometre radius of the launching pad, would be evacuated.

The district authority would disburse about Rs 88,000 as compensation to the 88 families for temporary evacuation during the test firing of Prithvi.

This would be the eighth test firing of Prithvi from the interim test range. The last test firing of Prithvi has conducted on January 27 last year, sources said.

UNI