The passengers of Howrah bound Kandari Express from Digha that reached its destination on Friday wee hour after several hours of scheduled time, were worried about getting back home. But, none of the 325 passengers could imagine that a pleasant surprise was awaiting them from Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee ahead of the assembly elections in the state.
A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped on Howrah-Kurla Express near Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh by an unidentified man who gave her a Rs 10 note after committing the crime before dumping her at the railway station, the police said on Sunday quoting her.
With these states imposing lockdowns anew, the health ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in the containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management.
The central government may, however, advise state authorities to continue with strict curbs in COVID-19 containment zones in the worst-affected 30 municipal areas that account for 80 per cent of the positive cases in the country. These 30 municipal areas are from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha.
People in several states across the country smeared each other with colours, exchanged greetings and savoured sweets to celebrate Holi.
The coverage for coronavirus infection will be available from day one of the infection in all the health insurance policies, says Amit Chhabra.
'People are getting back to work.' 'The worst seems to be over.' 'It is very likely that the recovery is mostly among the informal, self-employed, workers who cannot afford to be away from work for too long,' notes Mahesh Vyas.
In a stern two-page letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said stricter enforcement of lockdown norms was necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus in the state.
'When violence spread, it looked as if Mamata was losing control, but soon, she was able to contain the situation.' 'Now, the TMC stands to gain the most.'
Five small crude bombs along with some crackers were found lying along the tracks near Jharsuguda in Orissa on Saturday, triggering a bomb scare and briefly disrupting rail services on the Mumbai-Howrah route.
Rediff.com correspondent Indrani Roy Mitra and Photographer Dipak Chakraborty reached the accident site near Jhargram in West Bengal, where a Mumbai-bound train derailed, early on Friday morning. She chronicles the grim situation at ground zero and asks some tough questions.
The stations are Secunderabad, Howrah, Sealdah, Kolkata, Chennai Central and Anand Vihar, Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
2 January 2010: Three accidents involving five trains took place in Uttar Pradesh due to dense fog conditions,killing 15 people. 16 January 2010: Three people died and around a dozen were injured when two express trains -- Kalindi Express and Shram Shakti Express -- collided in thick fog in UttarPradesh. May 28, 2010: Jyaneshwari Express derailed by Naxals killing at least 148 people.
Flood situation in West Bengal's six districts remain unchanged, even as the death toll rose to 17 with reports of eight more deaths from different districts on Friday.
The assurance came hours after the Centre accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of obstructing a central team deputed to assess the coronavirus ground situation.
CST Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Howrah, Sealdah, Thiruvanathapuram, Chennai, Bhopal, Madhura Junction, New Jalpaiguri and Kochi are some of the stations that will be modernised.
Mangled heaps of bogies lying off the tracks, passengers in bandages and plasters and a row of hearse vans lined up -- the scene at the site of the derailment of the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express near Jhargram virtually resembled a war zone.
"It was pitch dark... when I regained my senses, I somehow managed to scramble out of the coach through the emergency window," said Anil Gupta, who was onboard the Maharashtra-bound Gyaneshwari Express, which came under Maoist attack in the wee hours of Friday.
Several trains in Jharkhand were either cancelled or diverted to avoid Naxal pockets and security beefed up as the two-day shut down called by the CPI-Maoist in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal began on Monday.
Six passengers of the 3049 Howrah-Amritsar Express were injured as armed robbers assaulted them and looted cash and valuables worth about Rs 1.5 lakh near Simultala railway station in Bihar's Jamui district on Sunday night, official sources said.
Free wifi with a speed of upto 50 mbps was rolled out on Friday across the six stations on Delhi Metro's premium Airport Express line.
Three new non-stop Duronto trains will be launched on Wednesday, the last day of the current financial year. They are the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar, New Delhi-Howrah, and Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Jammu Tawi Duronto expresses.
Floods in West Bengal have claimed over 40, with water levels rising arlamingly in East Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Birbhum and Burdwan districts.
As part of efforts to revamp its services, the Indian Railways have decided to take over the catering charge of two prestigious trains from Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation.
To begin with, four Jan Ahar outlets are going to be operational at Howrah, Bangalore, Chennai and Secunderabad stations this month. Seven more will be launched at different stations, including Patna, New Jalpaiguri, Lucknow and Mysore next month.
Referring to the arrest of military operations leader Venkatshewar Reddy alias Telugu Dipak on March two from Howrah, Maoist leader Kishenji said: "The arrest will strengthen our resolve to fight state sponsored terrorism. We will make our movement in the country stronger and sharper."
The Indian Railway plans to launch 101 new suburban trains in Mumbai. The Railways will also launch 10 more Duranto trains.
The railway ministry is planning to launch 15 more Duronto Expresses in the coming budget, as the end-to-end non-stop train has caught the fancy of passengers.
Not keen to take any chances in the wake of the derailment of the Gyaneshwari Express on Friday, the railway ministry has decided to suspend the running of passenger trains for seven hours in the night in Naxal-affected areas, during the Black Week declared by the Left-wing extremists. The decision came after Maoists derailed the Howrah-Kurla Gyaneshwari Express in West Midnapore district of West Bengal in the wee hours of Friday, killing more than 100 people.
Kolkata sheds its white-blue nocturnal hue with pink ball day-night Test.
Mita said she was not worried about the criticism she faced on social media over her anti-war stand.
Delhi had to sweat it out to get the better of a resilient Chhattisgarh 6-5 (2-2) in the penalty shootout to advance into the quarter-final league of the 64th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at Howrah Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Delhi registered their second consecutive win with a 2-0 victory of Uttar Pradesh to inch closer to pre-quarterfinals of the 64th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at Khardah Stadium in Kolkata.
Roopa Ganguly was on Sunday heckled and her convoy attacked allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters near Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas district.
Maharashtra beat Andhra Pradesh 4-1 to keep their unbeaten record intact and inch closer to a pre-quarterfinal berth in the 64th Senior National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy on Saturday in Kolkata.
Edeh Chidi-less Mohun Bagan wasted many opportunities against Pune FC as both teams played out a goal-less draw in their round 15 I-League match at Howrah Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday.
The TMC leadership has decided to raise the issue in both the houses of Parliament.
Despite beating Chirag United 1-0 in their season-ending match on Friday, Sporting Clube de Goa finished 13th in the standings and could not avoid relegation to the second division.
A man was killed and three others injured while trying to resist armed robbers who looted passengers of the Punjab Mail near Simutala halt in Kiul-Asansol section of East Central Railway early on Saturday.Nearly 12 bandits boarded the S-4 coach of the Amritsar-bound train from Howrah and looted valuables worth Rs two lakh from the passengers, police said. They fired a couple of rounds when some passengers tried to resist.
Mamata said she wanted 600 acres of land for the proposed rail coach factory.
