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पुणे- देहूरोड रेलवे स्टेशन पर रविवार दोपहर बेगडेवाडी रेलवे स्टेशन के स्टेशन मास्टर की पटरी पार करते समय पुणे-भुसावल एक्सप्रेस ट्रेन की चपेट में आने से मौत हो गई। वे अपने परिवार के साथ मूल गांव जाने के लिए निकले थे। दूसरे प्लेटफार्म से पानी लेकर आने के दौरान उनके साथ हादसा हो गया।   यह घटना देहूरोड रेलवे स्टेशन पर दोपहर 1 बजे के करीब हुई। लोहमार्ग पुलिस के अनुसार मृतक का नाम रामकेश मीणा (40) हालमुकाम प्रगति कॉलोनी, विकासनगर, किवले, मूलनिवासी राजस्थान है। मीना बेगडेवाडी रेलवे स्टेशन के प्रमुख के रूप में पदस्थ थे। रात की ड्यूटी के बाद रामकेश अपने परिजनों के साथ पुणे-लोनावला लोकल से देहूरोड स्टेशन पर उतरे। उनके साथ उनकी पत्नी, 2 बेटे, 3 बेटियां थीं। देहूरोड रेलवे स्टेशन पर वे पुणे की ओर जाने वाली लोकल की राह देख रहे थे।

लोकल आने में समय होने की वजह से वे पानी लेने के लिए रेल पटरी पारकर दूसरे प्लेटफार्म पर जाने लगे, तभी पुणे-भुसावल एक्सप्रेस ने उन्हें टक्कर मार दी। उन्होंने मौके पर ही दम तोड दिया। मीणा परिवार की आंखों के सामने ही उनका एकमात्र सहारा छिन गया और गांव लौटने की खुशियां मातम में बदल गईं।

देहूरोड पुलिस चौकी के पुलिस हवालदार एस. आर. झपरे ने बताया कि मीणा अपने परिवार समेत वे मूलगांव जा रहे थे। पिंपरी के वाईसीएम अस्पताल में उनका पोस्टमार्टम किया गया। बाद में लाश परिजनों को सौंप दी गई। मीणा गत 10-12 सालों से बेगडेवाडी रेलवे स्टेशन पर पदस्थ थे।

पुणे- देहूरोड रेलवे स्टेशन पर रविवार दोपहर बेगडेवाडी रेलवे स्टेशन के स्टेशन मास्टर की पटरी पार करते समय पुणे-भुसावल एक्सप्रेस ट्रेन की चपेट में आने से मौत हो गई। वे अपने परिवार के साथ मूल गांव जाने के लिए निकले थे। दूसरे प्लेटफार्म से पानी लेकर आने के दौरान उनके साथ हादसा हो गया।   यह घटना देहूरोड रेलवे स्टेशन पर दोपहर 1 बजे के करीब हुई। लोहमार्ग पुलिस के अनुसार मृतक का नाम रामकेश मीणा (40) हालमुकाम प्रगति कॉलोनी, विकासनगर, किवले, मूलनिवासी राजस्थान है। मीना बेगडेवाडी रेलवे स्टेशन के प्रमुख के रूप में पदस्थ थे। रात की ड्यूटी के बाद रामकेश अपने परिजनों के साथ पुणे-लोनावला लोकल से देहूरोड स्टेशन पर उतरे। उनके साथ उनकी पत्नी, 2 बेटे, 3 बेटियां थीं। देहूरोड रेलवे स्टेशन पर वे पुणे की ओर जाने वाली लोकल की राह देख रहे थे।

लोकल आने में समय होने की वजह से वे पानी लेने के लिए रेल पटरी पारकर दूसरे प्लेटफार्म पर जाने लगे, तभी पुणे-भुसावल एक्सप्रेस ने उन्हें टक्कर मार दी। उन्होंने मौके पर ही दम तोड दिया। मीणा परिवार की आंखों के सामने ही उनका एकमात्र सहारा छिन गया और गांव लौटने की खुशियां मातम में बदल गईं।

देहूरोड पुलिस चौकी के पुलिस हवालदार एस. आर. झपरे ने बताया कि मीणा अपने परिवार समेत वे मूलगांव जा रहे थे। पिंपरी के वाईसीएम अस्पताल में उनका पोस्टमार्टम किया गया। बाद में लाश परिजनों को सौंप दी गई। मीणा गत 10-12 सालों से बेगडेवाडी रेलवे स्टेशन पर पदस्थ थे।

Chief administrative officer (Construction) at North Central Railway VK Govil was accorded a warm farewell on his retirement at a special function organized at NCR headquarters. Addressing the function, NCR GM Alok Johri spoke about the valuable services rendered by Govil and wished him success in future life. Govil spoke about his varied experiences in the service of the railways and thanked everyone who offered him co-operation. Chief personnel officer OM Prakash, heads of departments of NCR and senior railway officers were present on the occasion.

भुवनेश्वर : रेल बजट में की गई घोषणा के मुताबिक रायगढ़ा से विशाखापट्टनम तक नई पैसेंजर ट्रेन शुरू कर दी गई है। 58503 नंबर फास्ट पैसेंजर सुबह 5 बजे रायगढ़ा से खुलेगी और सुबह 9 बजे विशाखापट्टनम पहुंचेगी। इसी तरह विशाखापट्टनम से शाम 5 बजे खुलेगी और रात 9 बजे रायगढ़ा पहुंचेगी। रायगढ़ा वासियों की मांग को देखते हुए यह रेल सेवा शुरू की गई है। इसके शुरू हो जाने से रायगढ़ा व विशाखापट्टनम के व्यापारियों को भी काफी सहूलियत होगी।

Palakkad: Ahead of the 2014 polls, the UPA government is moving ahead with another big-ticket rail project: A rail coach factory at Palakkad in Kerala.

“The request for qualification (RFQ) for the Rs.600 crore project will shortly be invited. We also expect to begin the process of shortlisting the bidders within this fiscal,” Railway Board chairman (CRB) Arunendra Kumar told.

The Pallakad factory has long been mired in political controversies despite the Kerala government — nearly four years ago — having offered land free of cost to set up the factory.

“All the issues have been sorted. An inter-ministerial group comprising officers of the ministries of finance, law and railways – as well as the planning commission – approved the draft RFQ for the project earlier this week,” Kumar said.

The factory, to be set up in three years, will have a capacity to manufacture 400 state-of-the-art aluminium coaches annually. It is planned as a joint venture with the railways contributing 26% of the equity.

The LDF government led by VS Achutanandan had acquired 430 acres for the project in 2009, which it had offered to the railways — provided the facility was built as a public fund and not as a PPP project.

As the railways plans to build the factory under the PPP mode, it has now purchased 239 acres from the Kerala government. “The state government had initially offered 430 acres free of charge,” Pallakad MP MB Rajesh said.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Government has granted sanction to construct a railway overbridge near Erode Station at a cost of Rs.40.16 crore. Since the Railways has expressed its inability to construct a new bridge to replace the existing one, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has sanctioned the construction of overbridge with State Government funds as it would connect traffic from Tiruchengode and Pallipalayam to Salem, Namakkal and Erode districts, an official release said. The railway overbridge would come up between Sankari Durg and Erode railway stations.The Chief Minister has also granted the Government’s administrative approval for constructing bridges in Thanjavur district at a total cost of Rs.36 crore, it said. Administrative approvals have been given for constructing a bridge between Thanjavur Town and Alakudi railway stations at Rs 29 crore and another bridge across Keezh Vennaru river at a cost of Rs seven crore, it added.

Ahead of the 2014 polls, the UPA government is moving ahead with another big-ticket rail project: A rail coach factory at Pallakad in Kerala.

“The request for qualification (RFQ) for the R600-crore project will shortly be invited. We also expect to begin the process of shortlisting the bidders within this fiscal,” Railway Board chairman (CRB) Arunendra Kumar told HT.

The Pallakad factory has long been mired in political controversies despite the Kerala government — nearly four years ago — having offered land free of cost to set up the factory.

“All the issues have been sorted. An inter-ministerial group comprising officers of the ministries of finance, law and railways – as well as the planning commission – approved the draft RFQ for the project earlier this week,” Kumar said.

The factory, to be set up in three years, will have a capacity to manufacture 400 state-of-the-art aluminium coaches annually. It is planned as a joint venture with the railways contributing 26% of the equity.

The LDF government led by VS Achutanandan had acquired 430 acres for the project in 2009, which it had offered to the railways — provided the facility was built as a public fund and not as a PPP project.

As the railways plans to build the factory under the PPP mode, it has now purchased 239 acres from the Kerala government. “The state government had initially offered 430 acres free of charge,” Pallakad MP MB Rajesh said.

COIMBATORE: The state government's announcement to construct a railway over-bridge between Sankari Durg and Erode stations has put an end to the long pending demand of residents. The present structure located at about 3 km from Sankagiri is inadequate to accommodate the huge number of vehicles that pass through this area. "The present railway underpass is narrow and only one heavy vehicle can pass through at a time," S Kumaresan, a commuter who regularly uses this route said. According to him, due to this inconvenience traffic snarls have become the order of the day.

Despite repeated representations to railway authorities for construction of a new structure there was no response. As the railways finally said they were not willing to construct a new structure, the state government on Sunday announced the construction of a new railway over-bridge in its place to meet growing demands. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa also sanctioned Rs40.16cr from state funds for construction of this structure.

The bridge is crucial to connect traffic from Salem, Namakkal and Erode districts and over the years increase in number of educational institutions and industrial establishments has resulted in huge increase in volume of the traffic. "Hundreds of LPG bullet tankers have to take a 40km detour via Magundanchavadi to reach the bottling plant, as these huge vehicles cannot travel on the present structure," said D Sakthivel, a lorry driver.

C Rajendran, a farmers' representative was among civil society members who continuously sought the construction of a new bridge replacing the existing one. Welcoming the government announcement, he opined that this will immensely benefit the public in the long term. The underpass lies about 3 km from Sankagiri and 8 km from Tiruchengode in the Erode-Salem broad gauge.

LUCKNOW: Railways' ticket drive Operation Chakravyuh, in the last two days, caught women, police officers, leaders of famers' organisations, army personnel, students and professionals travelling ticketless. A student had boarded a train from Kanpur without ticket (WT) and was caught at Lucknow station. Though she tried evading the fine on the grounds of being a woman, she was not let off."The idea is to drive home the message that travelling without ticket is an offence," said senior divisional commissioner, Lucknow, Northern Railway, Ashwini Srivastava. Students with no money to pay the fine, were penalised in group to pay up collectively. The 36-hour long drive earned revenue of Rs 4.5 lakh.Till late Sunday evening, 1,570 passengers were caught without ticket and Rs 4,81,409 was recovered from them by way of penalty. Passengers who did not have money to pay the penalty (minimum penalty for ticketless travel is Rs 250) were charged for offences like littering and smoking that have provision for a smaller fine.

Lucknow division of Northern Railway conducted 'operation chakravyuh' to discourage ticketless travelling. "Ever since the rail fare increased, we had been catching at least 60 persons every day, on an average, without ticket at nearby stations," said the Sr DCM. Despite railways conducting regular drives, number of defaulters has not reduced.

"We wrote to Delhi after we noticed the trend and sought additional staff to conduct a massive drive," said the official. The station premises were checked at every entry/exit point to not let anybody travel without ticket escape fine. The officials said they caught a cop who was travelling with a family without ticket. He was bailed out by his friend at the station.

There were women who fought with the staff to evade fine and political representatives who threatened the staff with dire consequences when checked. The representatives of a farmers' organisation who had come to sit on a 'dharna' at the Vidhan Bhawan were caught without ticket. Others from the organization who dropped in to help them were charged too for entering the station without a platform ticket.

"We plan to launch surprise follow-up checking drives after this," said the official.

Apart from ticketless travellers, about 1,834 people were charged for littering and other railway offences and Rs 5,79,654 was recovered.

KOLKATA: If conservationists have their way, the state's much-touted tourism project in Gajoldoba, 25kms from Siliguri, may face a green hurdle.

The proposed project site of over 200 acres is surrounded by the forests of Apalchand on east and Baikunthapur on west, which were to be notified as protected areas in 1995 when a clearance was granted to the lower Teesta Barrage project.

With the notification yet to be made, the members of the National Board of Wildlife have already pressured the state on this last March while giving a survey nod to the Sevoke-Rangpo rail link that will cut through another key protected area in North Bengal - the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary.Now, the members of the state wildlife advisory board have asked the chief wildlife warden to include the issue on the agenda of their next board meeting, likely in November.If the forests get a conservation reserve or protected area status, the state may have to knock on the Centre's Union environment ministry's doors for the tourism hub project, which is so far sailing smooth.

National Board of Wildlife member M D Madhusudan said: "This place in the lower Teesta region is a key elephant corridor used by the jumbos for movements between the eastern and western banks of the river. The state should be careful while planning any project here."

According to state wildlife advisory board member Animesh Bose, a conservation reserve tag for the forests was proposed before, but the issue never featured on the agendas of any state wildlife board meeting. "Since the site also houses a big waterbody, which is used by several migratory birds every year, we want some protection in the area. It's not that we are against development activities, but some restriction is needed," he said.

Citing the example of the Alipore Zoo waterbody, which used to attract migratory birds till a big hotel project came up near it, another member of state wildlife advisory board Biswajit Roy Chowdhury said the state must take a cautious approach while clearing any project in Gajoldoba.

The waterbody at Gajoldoba witnesses arrival of over 150 species of migratory and resident birds every winter, including species like the long-tailed duck, smew, common golden eye, black-necked grebe and bar-headed goose. On an average 15,000 birds use this waterbody every winter.

Madhusudan also said: the Bengal government had promised to notify the lower region of Teesta river basin as a sanctuary earlier. "Since it's using a key forest patch for the Rangpo rail link now, it should first notify the forests of Baikunthapur and Apalchand as protected areas," he said, adding that "It's needed to be seen whether the site falls within a 10-km radius of Mahananda." Tourism minister Krishnendu Chowdhury made it clear the project would not come up near the forest. Though bids are still open, the state is not satisfied with the bidders who have shown interest in the project so far. "Big players are now lying low due to the statehood agitation in the Hills," he said.

The Rs 2000-crore project will house high-end lake resort, three and four-star resorts, budget hotels, spa, picnic park, golf course and cultural zone. With an eye to secure a place in the top-five travel destinations in India, the Bengal government has also added Sunderbans' Jharkhali as a destination to its tourism plans. The two projects will attract investments up to Rs 5,000 crore.