ProUI

Train services on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) between Coonoor and Mettupalayam were resumed on Monday.

The services had been cancelled on Saturday following boulders falling on the track between Runnemede and Hillgrove due to heavy rains on Friday. With workers and equipment brought from Mettupalayam, the track had been cleared on Sunday.

सहरसा के पास हुए रेल हादसे का ठीकरा जहां केंद्र सरकार ने पूरी तरह नीतीश कुमार सरकार के सिर फोड़ दिया, वहीं भाजपा इसके लिए केंद्र को भी जिम्मेदार मानती है। पार्टी नेता रविशंकर प्रसाद ने कहा कि केंद्र इससे बच नहीं सकता। उन्होंने जांच कर दोषियों पर कार्रवाई की मांग की।
बिहार में हाल में हो रही घटनाओं के बाद अक्सर नीतीश सरकार पर हमलावर रही भाजपा ने सोमवार को उसे थोड़ी राहत दी। रविशंकर ने कहा, 'राज्य सरकार को ज्यादा सतर्क और संवेदनशील होना चाहिए था। लेकिन, केंद्र का यह तर्क नहीं माना जा सकता कि राज्य प्रशासन की ओर से रेलवे को उस क्षेत्र में चल रहे मेले की जानकारी नहीं दी गई थी। रेलवे का अपना स्टाफ होता है जो आसपास की जानकारी रखता है। केंद्र इस हादसे से अपना दामन नहीं बचा सकता। केंद्र और राज्य सरकार दोनों को सतर्क होना चाहिए था, लेकिन किसी ने भी अपनी पूरी जिम्मेदारी नहीं निभाई। घटना की पूरी जांच कर दोषियों के खिलाफ कार्रवाई होनी चाहिए। साथ ही हादसे के शिकार हुए लोगों के परिजनों को पर्याप्त क्षतिपूर्ति दी जानी चाहिए।'

कहीं लोग जानबूझकर रेलवे ट्रैक से होकर गुजरते हैं तो कहीं मजबूरी में ऐसा कर रहे हैं, लेकिन दोनों ही स्थिति खतरनाक हैं। गंभीरता का अंदाजा इस बात से लगाया जा सकता है कि गलत ढंग से रेलवे ट्रैक पार करने में दिल्ली रेल मंडल में पिछले सात माह में 575 लोगों की जान चली गई, बावजूद इसके न तो लोग बाज आ रहे हैं और न ही रेल प्रशासन समस्या को लेकर गंभीर है।
जानते सभी हैं कि रेलवे ट्रैक पार करना अपराध ही नहीं जानलेवा भी है। मगर सजगता देखिए दिल्ली मंडल में तीन लोग प्रतिदिन रेल से कट रहे हैं। मगर लोग सुधरने को तैयार नहीं।
एक वर्ष में हुई 5154 लोगों के खिलाफ कार्रवाई : गत वर्ष एक अगस्त से इस वर्ष 31 जुलाई तक आरपीएफ ने अभियान चलाकर रेलवे ट्रैक पार कर रहे 5154 लोगों के खिलाफ कार्रवाई की है। आरपीएफ अधिकारियों के अनुसार ट्रैक पार करना कानूनी अपराध है। ऐसा करते पाए जाने वालों को पकड़कर रेलवे मजिस्ट्रेट के सामने पेश किया जाता है, जहां उन्हें अधिकतम एक हजार रुपये तक जुर्माना या छह माह तक की कैद की सजा हो सकती है।
राजधानी दिल्ली में भी ट्रैक पर जा रही है जान
रेलवे ट्रैक पर लोगों की जान जाने की वजह रेलवे की लापरवाही भी है। दिल्ली रेल मंडल में 170 ऐसी क्रॉसिंग हैं, जहां फाटक पर कर्मचारी तैनात नहीं हैं। इसी तरह से कई जगह पर रेल ओवरब्रिज नहीं होने की मजबूरी में लोग रेलवे ट्रैक पार करने को मजबूर हैं। आनंद विहार मेगा टर्मिनल से ओल्ड आनंद विहार रेलवे स्टेशन तक जाने के लिए आज तक सब वे नहीं बन पाया है। मजबूरन लोग रेलवे ट्रैक से होकर एक से दूसरे स्टेशन पहुंचते हैं। जिससे दुर्घटना की आशंका बनी रहती है। इसी तरह से दिल्ली के हरकेश नगर के लोगों को मथुरा रोड पर आने के लिए दिल्ली-मुंबई रेलवे ट्रैक को पार करना पड़ता है और कई लोगों की जान चली जाती है। सूचना के अधिकार से प्राप्त जानकारी के अनुसार हरिकेश नगर में प्रति माह औसतन छह लोगों की मौत ट्रैक पर हो रही है।
बिना कर्मचारी वाले रेलवे फाटकों का विवरण
शकूरबस्ती-बठिंडा रेल खंड- 33
गाजियाबाद-सहारनपुर रेल खंड-2
दिल्ली शाहदरा-शामली-टपरी रेल खंड- 68
दिल्ली कैंट-रेवाड़ी रेल खंड-2
नरवाना-कुरुक्षेत्र रेल खंड- 37
जींद-पानीपत रेल खंड- 28
आनंद विहार टर्मिनल व आनंद विहाररेलवे स्टेशन को जोड़ने के लिए सब-वे बनाने तथा हरिकेश नगर में आरओबी बनाने की प्रक्रिया चल रही है। रेलवे ट्रैक पार करना अपराध है तथा ऐसा ऐसा करने वालों के खिलाफ आरपीएफ द्वारा कार्रवाई की जाती है। इसके साथ हीं स्कूलों, गांवों, क्रॉसिंग पर तथा अन्य सार्वजनिक स्थानों पर नुक्कड़ नाटक कर, पोस्टर लगाकर तथा अन्य माध्यमों से लोगों को जागरूक किया जाता है।
अजय माइकल, जनसंपर्क अधिकारी दिल्ली रेल मंडल

Guwahati, Aug. 19:The Assam Cricket Association has initiated steps to bar NF Railway Sports Association (NFRSA) from fielding its teams in the junior age group cricket tournaments in the state.
According to sources in the ACA, decks have been cleared for a decision in this regard in the ACA’s meeting with its affiliated district sports association presidents and secretaries here on August 22.
The move may be termed a fallout of a series of attacks on the ACA by a section of NF Railway employees, who are former state cricketers, in the media.
Confirming the development toThe Telegraph, ACA secretary Bikash Baruah, said, “A section of the district associations have been demanding the same for some time because the players in the under-15 (school), under-16 and under-17 age groups are not employees with the NF Railways. We will place the matter for discussion in the August 22 meeting and will abide by the house’s opinion.”
The Railway outfit will be eligible for the under-19, under-25 and senior inter-district tournaments, provided the players are employees with the NF Railway, the ACA secretary added.
The NFRSA is an affiliated district unit of the ACA and its academy has produced the likes of Abu Nechim Ahmed, who is currently the captain of the state senior team, and a host of players for the state.
The development in the ACA assumes significance in view of the fact that a few former first class players, who are employees with the NF Railway, have offended the ACA by making so mere marks against the ACA top brass during the last two months.
The ACA has also moved the NFRSA and the NF Railway general manager here against former Ranji players Rajesh Borah, Syed Zakaria Zuffri and Tilak Das, alleging that they were trying to mislead the people of the state.
The players apparently alleged that the state does not have any qualified coach and support staff in a recent television talk show.
Terming it as a “disrespect” by the former players towards the coaches and support staff, the ACA said it currently has 31 National Cricket Academy qualified coaches and 10 BCCI accredited support staff including physio, trainer and video analyst at its disposal.
It has urged the NF railway authorities concerned to initiate action against the employees for the misdemeanour.
The district sports associations will definitely throw their weight on the issue particularly after the senior players concerned did not spare the members from the districts concerned by criticising them of not being qualified as cricket administrators.
“It is not necessary to be a good cricketer to be a good administrator. Jagmohan Dalmia, as everybody knows, was never a great cricketer, but he is invariably a great administrator,” one of the district sports association secretaries said, wishing anonymity.
NF Railway SA general secretary P.K. Singh said he was “unaware of a development to bar his association from participation in the junior tournaments”.

New Delhi, Aug. 19: Railway officials described the train tragedy at Dhamara Ghat as an “incident” and not an “accident”, seeking to blame the victims as solely responsible for inviting the fate they met.
The officials are of the opinion that the victims made an “illegal trespass” on the tracks to come in front of a speeding train. But given the political compulsions in a democracy, no official chose to come on record to blame the people for the “mass suicide” kind of incident and said an inquiry had been ordered into the tragedy. Officials said given the scale of the tragedy it appeared that the crowd tried to stop the speeding train.
Railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge too termed the tragedy an“unfortunate incident” and sought to blame the victims for the tragedy but refrained from stating it in clear terms. On “humanitarian grounds” he announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the dead and Rs 1 lakh for the injured.
Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge said two passenger trains were stopped at Dhamara Ghat station to give passage to the “superfast” train that ran over the people. He said people from the two stationary trains “got down on the non-platform side”, clearly hinting that the victims were at fault.
“Some passengers got down (from the two trains) on the non-platform side. In the meantime train number 12567 (the superfast train) arrived,” Kharge told the House and added that the driver of the speeding train tried his best but could not save the people.
“The loco pilot after passing the home signal saw some persons on the tracks and applied the emergency brakes. However, by the time the train stopped some people got run over,” the minister told the Rajya Sabha, terming the incident “unfortunate”.
“It is not an accident but an incident. What is the fault of the railways if people don’t take care and come in front of a speeding train?” asked an angry railway officer at Rail Bhavan. He said that there was no “advisory” from the state administration to slow speed of the train in view of gathering of devotees.
Statistics compiled by the railways shows that in the past four years over 50,000 people have been killed on “railway tracks and level crossings because of trespassing”. Till June this year, over 8,000 lives had been lost due to trespassing.
Railway officials said in all these cases the deaths were due to the fault of the victims but in some cases they had to pay compensation owing to political compulsions, like today’s tragedy.

The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment is conducting quiz and painting competitions for school students as part of giving publicity to the Science Express Biodiversity Special that will reach the Kozhikode railway station for its four-day campaign in the city on August 24.

Painting competitions will be held separately for kindergarten, lower primary, upper primary and high school students while quiz will be held for high school and higher secondary school students, says a press release. ‘Biodiversity’ will be the topic for the contests.

The painting contest will be held at 2 p.m. at BEM Girls High School here on Thursday and the quiz programme will be held at 2.30 p.m. at the Regional Science Centre and Planetarium on the same day. The paintings will be exhibited on platform 2 of the Kozhikode railway station on August 25. Details can be had on the phone: 9495528091.

The Science Express Biodiversity Special is a unique collaborative initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Environment and Forest. The specially designed 16-coach AC train has been travelling across the country since October 2007. The exhibition will be open for the public on platform 2 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

With over one crore visitors at its 315 halts and 11,470 exhibition days till date, the science express is the largest and the most visited mobile science exhibition in the country, says the release. The train is scheduled to travel to 62 locations in the country during the period from April 9 to October 28 this year.

Eight out of the 16 coaches of the train will reflect the extensive biodiversity spread across the bio-geographical zones of the country including the Western Ghats and the North East. The exhibition aims at creating awareness among the students as well as the general public on the priceless and unique biodiversity of the country and the need for its conservation.


Quiz and painting competitions for school students on Thursday.

सहरसा के पास हुए रेल हादसे का ठीकरा जहां केंद्र सरकार ने पूरी तरह नीतीश कुमार सरकार के सिर फोड़ दिया, वहीं भाजपा इसके लिए केंद्र को भी जिम्मेदार मानती है। पार्टी नेता रविशंकर प्रसाद ने कहा कि केंद्र इससे बच नहीं सकता। उन्होंने जांच कर दोषियों पर कार्रवाई की मांग की।
बिहार में हाल में हो रही घटनाओं के बाद अक्सर नीतीश सरकार पर हमलावर रही भाजपा ने सोमवार को उसे थोड़ी राहत दी। रविशंकर ने कहा, 'राज्य सरकार को ज्यादा सतर्क और संवेदनशील होना चाहिए था। लेकिन, केंद्र का यह तर्क नहीं माना जा सकता कि राज्य प्रशासन की ओर से रेलवे को उस क्षेत्र में चल रहे मेले की जानकारी नहीं दी गई थी। रेलवे का अपना स्टाफ होता है जो आसपास की जानकारी रखता है। केंद्र इस हादसे से अपना दामन नहीं बचा सकता। केंद्र और राज्य सरकार दोनों को सतर्क होना चाहिए था, लेकिन किसी ने भी अपनी पूरी जिम्मेदारी नहीं निभाई। घटना की पूरी जांच कर दोषियों के खिलाफ कार्रवाई होनी चाहिए। साथ ही हादसे के शिकार हुए लोगों के परिजनों को पर्याप्त क्षतिपूर्ति दी जानी चाहिए।'

पाटणा

बिहारमधील खगडीया जिल्ह्यात झालेल्या भीषण रेल्वे अपघातातील मृतांची संख्या ३७ वर पोहोचली असून मृतांचा आकडा वाढण्याची भीती व्यक्त करण्यात आली आहे. दरम्यान, या घटनेत मृत पावलेल्या भाविकांच्या कुटुंबीयांना बिहार सरकारने प्रत्येकी २ लाखांची मदत जाहीर केली आहे.

प्रसिद्ध कात्यायनी मंदिरापासून जवळच असलेल्या धमारा रेल्वेस्थानकात हा अपघात झाला. अपघातात आणखी १८ भाविक गंभीर जखमी झाले असून तब्बल पाच तासांनंतर त्यांना रुग्णालयात दाखल करण्यात आले आहे. हा अपघात तसेच अपघातानंतर मदतकार्यात झालेला उशीर यामुळे भाविक तसेच गावकऱ्यांच्या संतापाचा स्फोट झाला आहे.

राज्यराणी एक्स्प्रेसमधील दोनही ड्रायव्हरना गाडीतून खेचून बाहेर काढत बेदम मारहाण करण्यात आली आहे. त्यांची प्रकृती नाजूक आहे. त्याचवेळी राज्यराणी एक्स्प्रेस पेटवून देण्यात आली असून गाडीचे चार डबे जळून खाक झाले आहेत. स्थानकात उभ्या असलेल्या एका पॅसेंजर गाडीलाही आग लावण्यात आली आहे. काही रेल्वे अधिकाऱ्यांना आंदोलकांनी डांबूनही ठेवले असून तणाव अजूनही कायम आहे.

जमावावर नियंत्रण आणण्यात पोलीस असमर्थ ठरत असून सुरक्षेच्या कारणावरून या मार्गावरून जाणाऱ्या अनेक गाड्या रद्द करण्यात आल्या आहेत.

हॉर्न वाजवला असता तर...

राज्यराणी एक्स्प्रेसला धमारा रेल्वेस्थानकात थांबा नाही. त्यामुळेच हा भयंकर अपघात घडला. प्रत्यक्षदर्शीच्या मते ही गाडी धमारा रेल्वे स्थानकातून जात असताना हॉर्नही वाजवण्यात आला नाही. शिवाय गाडी ताशी ८० कि.मी. च्या वेगाने जात होती. गाडीने हॉर्न वाजवला असता तर अनेक भाविकांचे प्राण वाचले असते.

Union Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge will apprise parliament about the killing of pilgrims by a speeding train in Bihar, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said Monday.“We condole the death of pilgrims in Bihar. The railway minister is collecting more information and all necessary support is being provided for rescue operation,” said Shukla.Shukla said Kharge will make a statement as soon as he gets all the information.At least 35 Hindu pilgrims were killed Monday when the Rajya Rani Express train mowed them down while they were trying to cross the track at the Dhamara railway station in Khagaria district.

PATNA: Railways suffered an estimated loss of over Rs 90 crore as a furious mob set ablaze 15 coaches, including an AC coach and locomotive of the Saharsa-Patna Rajyarani Express (12567) and five coaches and the locomotive of Samastipur-Saharsa passenger train at Dhamara Ghat on Saharsa-Mansi section under Samastipur division of East Central Railway (ECR) after 37 passengers were killed by the running train around 9am on Monday morning. Railways, however, put the death toll at 28. The railway communication system was totally paralysed as an irate mob also ransacked the railway station, cabin and tracks. It was difficult for railways to rush the rescue team to the site soon after the mishap, said ECR CPRO Amitbah Prabhakar. According to him, most of the officials, including railway doctors of the rescue team, were unable to reach the accident site because of lack of direct road link. He said the railways rescue team could reach the spot at 2.45pm only.

The CPRO said ECR GM Madhuresh Kumar, along with senior officials of the ECR headquarters, rushed to the site by a special train soon after receiving the information about the incident. However, Samastipur DRM Arun Mallik and other senior officials of the division were already camping at the site and supervising the rescue and relief works, he said.

Though railways was yet to announce an inquiry to probe the exact cause behind the incident, prima facie it appeared that the mishap took place while the victims were crossing the tracks when Rajyarani Express was coming from Saharsa end. The CPRO said railways started its rescue operation after getting clearance from the local police.

He said the mob assaulted the train driver and made several staff of Dhamara Ghat hostage for a few hours. They were released after police intervention. Traffic system would remain suspended on Saharsa-Mansi section till normalcy returned, he said.

Meanwhile, railways cancelled four passenger trains on Monday which included Saharsa-Amritsar Jansewa Express, Saharsa-Barauni Express, Patna-Saharsa Rajyarani Express and Patna-Saharsa Kosi Express.

Amritsar-Saharsa Garib Rath was short terminated at Begusarai on Monday and it would originate from there for Amritsar. Sealdah-Saharsa passenger would originate from Mansi while Amritsar-Saharsa Jansewa was terminated at Barauni. Besides, Barauni-Saharsa passenger train was also terminated at Khagaria, the CPRO said.