ProUI

NEW DELHI: Conservation of early Mughal-era monument Nila Gumbad has hit a wall with Northern Railway using part of the earmarked land to store material. While work inside the monument continues, that on the exterior settings has been stopped till the land is cleared. ASI director-general Praveen Srivastava has written to the railways. The project is being undertaken by Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) with co-funding from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. Officials said the railways continued to dump material at the site of the monument owned by ASI, so the exterior settings cannot be worked upon. "Removal of of pink plaster layers, applied here as recently as 2003, has revealed original ornamental patterns that are being carefully restored by art conservators trained during the Humayun's tomb conservation,'' said an AKTC official.

The Nila Gumbad is named after the turquoise blue tiles used by the Mughal builders to cover the dome. Many of the tiles have fallen due to vibrations caused by trains. As part of the project, efforts will be made to insulate the monument from the jerks caused by poorly maintained railway tracks. "The restoration will make sense only if the road bifurcating Nila Gumbad from Humayun's tomb is shifted, as agreed upon by the railways in a 2010 MoU with the ASI. This will allow millions of annual visitors at the tomb to visit this marvel and to avoid sanctions from Unesco,which were imposed on the Hampi world heritage site over a bridge bifurcating the site,'' said an official.

Srivastava wrote to the DRM northern railways requesting that a 2010 agreement be adhered to and AKTC be allowed to continue works as planned. In response, say ASI sources, the railways have requested recently re-built enclosure walls be demolished. ``This while the railways have built ugly, tall concrete fencing within the prohibitied zone of Humayun's tomb without any permissions,'' said officials. "The determined effort of the Railways to continue to vandalize a world heritage site is shocking. Especially since in lieu of the proposed development, alternate structures have already been built for the railways,'' said project director, AKTC Ratish Nanda.

Conservationists are hoping the issue is resolved soon. With the blue tiles already being prepared in kilns at Humayun's tomb, Nila Gumbad will hopefully soon stand proud once again in all it's Mughal grandeur, claimed ASI officials.

VADODARA: Seven oil tankers connected to a goods train derailed at near Vadodara railway station adversely affecting the train movement in the Vadodara railway division on Sunday.The oil tankers connected to the freight train jumped tracks near the Jetalpur underpass at around 10.50 am.The tankers were loaded with furnace oil which was loaded from the Karachiya yard. The furnace oil transported by the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Gujarat Refinery) was on its way to Miraj near Pune. The goods train had 52 oil tankers attached to it.

Soon after the incident, Vadodara railway division officials rushed to the spot to start rescue works.

The officials were hoping that the line will be restored by 11.30 pm even as several trains got delayed due to the incident leaving passengers stranded on platform number one. Trains that were passing through Vadodara were directed on one track.

"We have moved all the resources and work is in full swing. The train movement on Vadodara-Surat line has not been stopped completely but the movement has been slow," said additional divisional railway manager Amit Kumar.

While a number of trains including Jammu Tawi Express, Janta Express, Viramgam-Valsad Express got delayed for hours, Vadodara-Surat memu train was cancelled after the incident.

Says he found it at his son's home and was carrying it to throw it from the running train

A major security lapse was averted at the Pune railway station when a routine bag scan revealed that an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police was carrying an illegal country made pistol in his bag. The arrested person has been identified as Subhash Ganpatrao Gaikwad (55), who hails from Narayannagar in Amravati.On Sunday, Gaikwad was produced before the court of judicial magistrate first class, which remanded him in a day’s police custody on the grounds that police were probing from where he got the pistol, whether he had used it or had plans to sell it.The incident came to light after a constable Sachin Jagdhale, attached to the railway protection force (RPF), lodged a complaint with the government railway police (GRP) on Saturday.According to inspector DS Rajput, the RPF in-charge here, Gaikwad has been currently posted at the Amravati wireless department. Subhash had planned to travel back to his hometown in Amravati by Azad Express.

“Around 6pm, Gaikwad entered platform number one where a constable found a suspicious object in his bag during scanning. Gaikwad was first reluctant to give his bag claiming the different object was just a toy and also showed his police identity card to get away. Our constable insisted on checking the bag and found a seven-inch countrymade pistol,” Rajput said.

When the RPF asked him whether he had arms documents and licence, Gaikwad told that he was in Pune to visit his software engineer son at Shivne and found the pistol in his house, the inspector said.

“Gaikwad further claimed that he took away the pistol without telling his son and was planning to throw it away from a running train,” he said.

An offence had been registered against Gaikwad and he had been handed over to GRP. He was then arrested by GRP under relevant sections of Arms Act.

Mahendra Bagade, assistant police inspector, GRP, who is investigating the case said, “Gaikwad claimed that he had come to Pune to visit his son Shrikant. While cleaning the house, he found the pistol in the garden area. Without asking his son, he kept the pistol along with him and was travelling to his workplace. Despite being in  the police department, he did not alert the police. We are recording the statement of his son after which the picture will be clear.”

Thrissur Railway Passengers’ Association has welcomed the Railway’s proposal to operate a daily train from Guruvayur to Punalur through Kottayam. The train will be of considerable help to inter-district passengers and also Sabarimala pilgrims, the organisation has said.

Chennai: A coach of a suburban Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) train derailed near Chennai Central railway station this evening, but there were no casualties, railway sources said.The incident occurred at around 6.30 PM as the Electric Multiple Unit from Gumidipoondi was arriving at a platform. One of the wheels got dislodged from a coach near Basin Bridge and it derailed, they said.Train services were disrupted for over an hour on the route due to the incident, the sources said.Railway officials rushed to the spot to repair it, they said, adding that services would soon be restored.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will soon install new booths that will allow women commuters to keep an eye on their belongings while they are being frisked at stations.The new booths come in the wake of a spurt in complaints of baggage thefts from x-ray scanners while commuters are being frisked by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at Metro stations.Interestingly, it was the CISF that had asked the DMRC to come up with covered booths as women often complained of lack of privacy during frisking.“At the same time, we have to be sure that they can also keep an eye on their belongings as they go through the bag scanners. The new booths are covered from both sides and have a space at the eye level from where commuters can watch their bags,” said a senior CISF official, requesting anonymity.One such booth was installed at Barakhamba Metro station last week and both the CISF and DMRC seem to be satisfied with the response.

“More or less, we have approved the new frisking booth and the same model will soon be placed at metro stations across Delhi and NCR,” the official added.

The blue coloured booths are portable too. Being made of fibre, these booths can be shifted from one location to another without any hassles.

“At some stations we do not have much space, but we are working out the modalities. Soon, every station will have booths of similar design,” he said.

Once the booths are installed at every station, the CISF will change the location of the baggage scanner so that women can see their baggage.

लखनऊ। ईद के बाद वापसी वाले यात्रियों की रविवार को जबरदस्त भीड़ रही। दिल्ली जाने वाले यात्रियों का ग्राफ अन्य ट्रेनों की तुलना में अधिक रहा। उत्तर रेलवे को यात्रियों की सुविधा के लिए तीन ट्रेनों में अतिरिक्त कोच लगाने पड़े। इसके अलावा स्पेशल ट्रेन चलानी पड़ी। इसके बाद भी सैकड़ों यात्रियों को कंफर्म टिकट नहीं मिल सके।

उत्तर रेलवे लखनऊ मंडल ने दिल्ली जाने वाली एसी एक्सप्रेस में दो थर्ड एसी, एक सेकेंड एसी और एक फ‌र्स्ट एसी कोच लगाया। इसी तरह प्रतापगढ़ से लखनऊ होकर दिल्ली जाने वाली पद्मावत एक्सप्रेस में दो स्लीपर कोच लगाए गए। चंडीगढ़ एक्सप्रेस में दो स्लीपर व एक कंपोजिट (आधा थर्ड व आधा सेकेंड एसी) लगाकर ट्रेन रवाना की गई। उधर एक दिन पहले दिल्ली के लिए घोषित हुई स्पेशल ट्रेन 04209 पूरी तरह से फुल हो गई।

बॉक्स

अभ्यर्थियों ने जमाया कब्जा

राजधानी में एनडीए की परीक्षा देकर लौट रहे अभ्यर्थियों से ट्रेनों में भीड़ रही। शाम को परीक्षा छूटने के बाद दून एक्सप्रेस, चित्रकूट एक्सप्रेस, पुष्पक एक्सप्रेस, गोरखपुर इंटरसिटी के आरक्षित कोचों में जमे रहे अभ्यर्थी जमे रहे। मौके पर पहुंची जीआरपी ने अभ्यर्थियों को समझाकर अन्य कोचों में समायोजित कराया।

बॉक्स

मालगाड़ी का वैगन पटरी से उतरा

चारबाग स्टेशन के यार्ड में मालगाड़ी का वैगन शंटिंग के दौरान पटरी से उतर गया। सुबह 10.20 पर उतरे वैगन को पटरी पर रखने में रेल कर्मियों को पसीने छूट गए। करीब चार घंटे की मशक्कत के बाद दोपहर 1.20 बजे के वैगन पटरी पर रखा जा सका। हालांकि इससे किसी भी ट्रेन का संचालन प्रभावित नहीं हुआ है।

इलाहाबाद : कछवा रोड रेलवे स्टेशन पर नॉन इंटरलॉकिंग का कार्य रविवार को पूरा हो गया। इसके चलते नौ से 11 अगस्त तक विभिन्न ट्रेनों का निरस्तीकरण, शार्ट टर्मिनेशन एवं मार्ग परिवर्तन, समय पुनर्निर्धारण किया गया था। यह सोमवार से एकबार फिर सामान्य हो जाएगा। सभी एक्सप्रेस एवं पैसेंजर ट्रेनें अपने पहले के समय पर चलाई जाएंगी।

वाराणसी मंडल के जनसंपर्क अधिकारी अशोक कुमार के मुताबिक रविवार को स्वतंत्रता संग्राम सेनानी एवं सिकंदराबाद एक्सप्रेस परिवर्तित मार्ग (प्रयाग-जंगई-वाराणसी) से चलाई गई। जबकि विभूति एक्सप्रेस को वाराणसी में ही समाप्त कर दिया गया। इसी प्रकार नौ से 11 अगस्त तक सुबह मडुआडीह से चलकर इलाहाबाद सिटी आने वाली पैसेंजर ट्रेनों का संचालन भी प्रभावित रहा।

NEW DELHI: Unmanned railway crossings continue to take a heavy toll of human lives with 194 people killed in the last three years. According to latest figures, 48 people were killed in mishaps at unmanned crossings during 2012-13, while 115 people were killed in 2011-12 and 31 in 2010-11. While the number of accidents at unmanned railway gates continues, the cash-strapped national transporter is yet to put its act together to eliminate these death traps numbering about 12,582 across the country. Though faced with financial stress, the transporter has set an ambitious target of eliminating 10,797 level crossings during the 12th five-year plan (2012-17) and not adding any new level crossing to the rail network in future. Currently, railways has 31,254 level crossings, around 40% of which are unmanned. The unmanned crossings are responsible for the maximum number of train accidents, around 40%. As manning these unmanned crossings has not been found to be an ideal solution, the transporter has decided to eliminate all such crossings. According to the Kakodkar committee, elimination of all level crossings (manned and unmanned) within five years would cost around Rs 50,000 crore which can be recovered over the next 7-8 years due to savings in operation and maintenance costs and improved train movement.

Railway officials blame states for the slow progress in eliminating level crossings or putting people in charges of the unmanned ones, saying they are not sharing the cost on a 50:50 basis.

Railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge had said that bridges could be constructed provided state governments or local bodies agreed to share 50% cost of the project.

He admitted that railways was not able to achieve the desired level of progress due to limited availability of funds which were being distributed over a large number of projects, .

The transporter paid Rs 10.88 lakh in compensation to families of victims of accidents at unmanned crossings in 2012-13, Rs 2.22 lakh in 2011-12 and Rs 17.41 lakh in 2010-11.

JAIPUR: The Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) is all set to complete the tender process and selecting the firm for constructing Jaipur Metro rail (phase -1 B) project, proposed from BadiChaupar to Chandpole, in August.But the problems have just begun for the gigantic metro rail project. Heritage lovers and residents are raising objections to the project stating that it would completely change the cityscape of the heritage Walled City. People staying on the route also have strong apprehensions that the project would damage their houses.Experts believe an "environment assessment survey" on the lines of "environmental impact assessment" conducted for the Central Secretariat-Badarpur Corridor of Delhi Metro in New Delhi before undertaking underground Metro construction between Chandpole and the chaupars.Dharmendar Kanwar, convener, Jaipur chapter of INTACH, said, "The heritage fabric should not be disturbed without the surveys as once it is damaged it would be difficult to be resorted. We were assured that metro stations will not be constructed on surface but the JMRC has to be very careful not to tamper with the heritage during construction."

Experts even suggest an environmental baseline data as present status of physio-chemical, biological and socio-economic aspects of the study are relevant to the proposed construction of the Metro corridor. Also, representative soil samples need to be collected from nearby locations along the proposed Metro corridor.

Rakesh Jain, residing near Chandpole gate whose house is along the route, said, "It would be very risky digging underground with people residing nearby. The state government should rehabilitate owners of shop and houses to avoid risks and losses. Touching the old structures without precautionary measures will be a mistake."

As per the plan under phase-I (B) of the project, an underground tunnel will be dug from Chandpole to Badi Chaupar through the congested areas of the old city. "It was decided that drilling of the tunnel will start from the Chandpole end. At the Chandpole tunnel, the depth will be 6 to 16 metres, while the depth of the tunnel at Badi Chaupar end will be 10 to 20 metre," an official said.

Meanwhile, the JMRC claimed that the process of selecting the final bidder will be completed by August. In September the work will be awarded to the selected firm and it is expected to start the work. Three companies have been shortlisted for Chandpole-Bari Chaupar underground Metro line project. The estimated cost of the said project is Rs 550 crore.