ProUI

NAGPUR: Commuters in the city faced severe hardships on Thursday as autorickshaws went off roads with major unions joining the strike called by Three Seater AutorickshawChalak Joint Action Samiti. Among the worst-hit were people arriving at railway stations, bus stops and school students.People carrying luggage were stranded at railway stations and bus stands since early morning. Also, students and senior citizens had a difficult time as they were forced to walk to their destinations. Parents of school going children had to drop off and pick up their wards at the school leading to huge traffic jams at all major schools.Ramesh Bahekar, a businessman, who arrived at Nagpur railway station this morning, said, "I was shocked to learn no autorickshaws would be available due to strike. The government needs to intervene in such cases and see that public transport services remain functional. The strike has forced me to change my plans for the day."

Engineering student Prapti Yamalwar, a resident of Wardhaman Nagar, said, "I had to sacrifice an hour of my study time to catch the bus and reach my college in Hingna. Spending two hours travelling in bus on the day of submission and examination was not something I had anticipated."

Senior citizen Vaibhav Gajbhiye, who lives in Chhaoni, said, "Thursday's strike forced me to reschedule my visit to the hospital. Like me, there could be hundreds who suffered. Senior citizens like me are not able to travel in public buses."

There were also many autorickshaw drivers who chose not to participate in the strike. Instead, they could be seen making a killing by asking for exorbitant from passengers. When this correspondent tried to hire an autorickshaw from Railway Station to Wardhaman Nagar, a driver asked for Rs 300 and refused to travel by meter.

VIJAYAWADA: The student community in Seemandhra region is raging against the bifurcation of the state. For the second day on Thursday they enforced bandh, which was by and large peaceful.Two more students made a bid on their lives in Kadapa in protest against bifurcation of the state. YSRCP students' wing leaders Ravi Kumar Reddy and Pavan Kumar Reddy doused themselves in petrol and tried to set themselves on fire at the district Congress party office, leading to commotion. However, the alert police foiled their attempts.The students raised slogans against UPA and Congress governments. All the districts in Seemandhra region were shut down following the agitations and protests against the bifurcation. Students raised slogans against UPA and Sonia Gandhi.Congress leaders are worried as students are targeting the statues of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in the region.

In view of Samaikyandhra agitation at Dharmavaram, South Central Railway diverted train No. 15016 Yesvantpur-Gorakhpur Express on Thursday via Tumkur, Bellary, Guntakal, and Secunderabad.

Though medical education minister Kondru Murali warned of serious consequences if protestors targeted the statues of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, the students demolished at least two statues of Rajiv Gandhi in his home district Srikakulam.

Students in Anantapur burnt photos of Rajiv Gandhi at Clock Tower centre. in a move to take on UPA chief Sonia Gandhi for granting the statehood to Telangana region

Under pressure from the students, the public representatives too are coming out of their shell and joining protests. Students in Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU) boycotted the classes as part of their 72-hour long bandh. JAC leaders met varsity vice-chancellor K V Rao and urged him to suspend classes and work in support of their agitation.

The situation in Rayalaseema region is very sensitive as youngsters are resorting to angry protests and are targeting police personnel. As educational institutions declared holiday, the students were at the forefront of the agitations. Universities became hotbeds as students from all organizations hit the streets. The APSRTC authorities could not ply services due to the students' agitations.

As RTC buses remained in depots in most of districts, passengers from rural areas had difficulty reaching their destinations. The students in Vijayawada city organised massive rasta roko near Benz circle resulting in traffic going haywire on the national highway.

Workers in Autonagar too shut down foundries and joined the protests. The local chamber of commerce extended its solidarity to the ongoing agitation and pledged to support Samaikyandhra movement in all forms. With students and NGOs staging dharna near RTC depot, the city buses too did not ply.

The protestors staged dharna in front of minister K Parthasarathy's residence demanding his resignation. Former minister Devineni Nehru of Congress, YSRCP leader Goutham Reddy and TDP leader B Umamaheswara Rao attended the political JAC meeting organised by Kolanukonda Sivaji and promised to join the agitation.

The agitators reached bus depot in Guntur in the early morning and requested the authorities not to ply the services. An hour later, protestors attacked a bus carrying the passengers from the bus stand and broke the windowpanes. RTC hurriedly suspended all the services immediately after the attack and the staff joined the protest wearing black badges.

The employees of Guntur municipal corporation (GMC) resorted to 48-hour strike and boycotted the duties. The agitators staged rail roko at Tanuku of West Godavari district and halted Simhadri Express for about half an hour. Entire village of Tatipudi in Vizianagaram participated in the funeral procession of home guard T Srinivasa Rao, who committed suicide to protest the bifurcation of the state. The villagers staged rasta roko on Sringavarapukota-Vizianagaram highway before the funeral.

With Rs.100 crore share capital, the Corporation will implement the Regional Rapid Transport System

The four States of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and the Ministries of Railways, Urban Development and the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) on Thursday inked an agreement to set up a new shell company, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC).The Corporation will design, develop, implement, finance, operate and maintain the Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) in the National Capital Region to provide comfortable and fast transit to NCR towns, and meet the high growth in transport demand.The company will have a share capital of Rs.100 crore on a 50:50 ownership pattern with 50 per cent owned by the Centre and 50 per cent by the State governments.

The company will implement individual RRTS corridors either through separate Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) or on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

In the first phase, the RRTS will cover Delhi-Sonepat-Panipat, Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar and Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut.

Estimated to cost around Rs.72,000 crore, the RRTS corridors will have a designated completion time of five years from the time of land acquisition, said Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna.

He urged the States to come up with innovative funding methods so that the dependence on Central Government funding is reduced. Mr. Krishna said money can be raised through property development along the transit corridors and stations, and through increased property tax collections and increased floor area ratios.

He also encouraged the States to look at borrowing from the domestic markets as has been done by the Bangalore Metro.

The funding pattern of the three rail-based corridors, however, would be chalked out separately keeping in mind factors such as the territory that a line covers in various States. “As per the tentative costs the project is pegged at Rs. 72,000 crore and to avoid cost and time overruns, work of the projects should start at the earliest,” said NCRPB member secretary Naini Jayaseelan.

On Delhi’s opposition to allow RRTS to terminate within city limits, Urban Development officials said the issue is being discussed and Delhi’s apprehension that it will lead to chaos are being allayed.

“We have explained how the RRTS and the Metro and other modes of public transport are being integrated for seamless connectivity and hopefully all issues will be resolved,” said S.K. Lohia, officer on special duty, urban transport.

Of the three proposed corridors, Delhi-Alwar is the longest at 180 km and would reduce travel time to 117 minutes, the corridor from Delhi to Panipat is 111 km with a travel time of 74 minutes and the 90-km-long Delhi-Meerut route has a proposed travel time of 62 minutes.

MUMBAI: A 25-year-old Nalasopara woman delivered a baby girl inside the first class ladies compartment of a suburban train at the Vasai railway station on Wednesday morning. The compartment resembled a labour room as three trained nurses travelling in the same compartment went about with the delivery process.The 6.18 am Dadar bound train left Virar on time. A heavily pregnant Poonam Singh boarded the first class ladies compartment along with her mother at Nalasopara. As the seats were occupied she stood on the footboard. As the train left the station, she felt contractions. The women commuters pacified her and even rushed to call the police at the Vasai railway station.Before the Government Railway Police (GRP) could arrive with the stretcher to move the Singh to the nearby hospital, she went into labour. Three trained nurses later identified by the cops as Rani Baby, Roshni Bhuvade and Ashwini Khanwilkar, took charge of the situation and assured Singh that she could safely deliver in their presence. Singh and her mother were on their way to Bhagwati hospital in Borivli.The windows of the compartment were shut as Singh lay on the seat and was guided through her first delivery. As soon as the new born arrived, the women commuters passed on the news to their male counterparts waiting anxiously on the platform.

By the time the delivery process was over, the train was on the platform for about 20 minutes. Commuters in compartments away from where the action was happening were turning restless and even abusing the delay in local trains. To silence the commuters, an announcement of the birth of the girl child was made on the public announcement system.

What followed was commuters congratulating each other without even knowing who the woman was. Many commuters were calling up their offices to inform that they were delayed as a new born had arrived on the platform.

The mother and new born were moved to the nearby hospital. They were later moved to a Mumbai hospital.

MUMBAI: On Thursday, an escalator facility was thrown open to commuters on Vile Parle station. With this, Vile Parle has become the first station on Western Railway (WR) and the second on the city's suburban system to have this facility.Thane was the first station in the city to get an escalator facility on platform 3 and 4 in the last week of June."Built at an estimated cost of Rs 60 lakh, the Vile Parle escalator is located on the north-end of platform 2 and 3," said Nitin David, WR public relations officer.WR said the facility will run on a trial basis to ensure there are no glitches in future. Vile Parle station sees a footfall of three-four lakh commuters every day; the escalator will be able to carry 9,000 commuters per hour. WR authorities have planned similar facilities at Borivli, Dadar and Andheri stations in this financial year.Meanwhile, Central Railway is expected to throw open its second escalator facility on Thane station's platform 5 and 6 on August 15. The railways is using the most rugged type of heavy-duty escalators that can withstand any climatic condition, including dust and rain. Escalators also coming up at...

On central line: Dadar, Vikhroli, Thane, Kurla, Dombivli, Kalyan, Ghatkopar

On western line: Phase I: Dadar, Andheri, Borivli

Phase II: Bandra Terminus, Lower Parel, Goregaon, Mira Road, Bhayander, Nalasopara, Virar, and two at Mumbai Central

MUMBAI: A 25-year-old Nalasopara woman delivered a baby girl inside the first class ladies compartment of a suburban train at the Vasai railway station on Wednesday morning. The compartment resembled a labour room as three trained nurses travelling in the same compartment went about with the delivery process.The 6.18 am Dadar bound train left Virar on time. A heavily pregnant Poonam Singh boarded the first class ladies compartment along with her mother at Nalasopara. As the seats were occupied she stood on the footboard. As the train left the station, she felt contractions. The women commuters pacified her and even rushed to call the police at the Vasai railway station.Before the Government Railway Police (GRP) could arrive with the stretcher to move the Singh to the nearby hospital, she went into labour. Three trained nurses later identified by the cops as Rani Baby, Roshni Bhuvade and Ashwini Khanwilkar, took charge of the situation and assured Singh that she could safely deliver in their presence. Singh and her mother were on their way to Bhagwati hospital in Borivli.The windows of the compartment were shut as Singh lay on the seat and was guided through her first delivery. As soon as the new born arrived, the women commuters passed on the news to their male counterparts waiting anxiously on the platform.

By the time the delivery process was over, the train was on the platform for about 20 minutes. Commuters in compartments away from where the action was happening were turning restless and even abusing the delay in local trains. To silence the commuters, an announcement of the birth of the girl child was made on the public announcement system.

What followed was commuters congratulating each other without even knowing who the woman was. Many commuters were calling up their offices to inform that they were delayed as a new born had arrived on the platform.

The mother and new born were moved to the nearby hospital. They were later moved to a Mumbai hospital.

NEW DELHI: A proposal to set up Rail Tariff Authority (RTA) for fare rationalisation got in-principle approval from the Union Cabinet today but the final nod was deferred for want of clarifications on various aspects like powers of the new body.The Cabinet deliberated upon the proposal to establish the first-of-its-kind body that will suggest the level of tariff for both the freight and passenger fares from time to time taking into account the input cost (diesel and electricity) and volatile market conditions.However, some members of the Cabinet sought clarifications from the Railways Ministry on some aspects like the composition and powers that the proposed RTA will have, sources said.While in-principle approval was given for setting up the body, the final nod was withheld till the Railways Ministry provides with the clarifications, the sources said.

KOCHI: The ways of our bureaucracy can be quite bizarre. So after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) started filling the paddy land at Muttom for the Metro yard, the land revenue department has initiated steps to get the project exempted from the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Act!The decision was taken at the state watershed committee meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram last week."Since the Metro project is a prestigious project, measures will be taken to clear all issues at the earliest. Records with village offices state that some of the areas on Metro's path fall under the category of wetlands.Authorities will issue sanctions without delay," said a senior official with the land revenue department. Some of the areas identified for Metro stations at Companyppady, Pathadippalam, Edappally, Palarivattom, Kaloor, Lisie Junction, Maharaja's College ground and areas identified at Muttom for the construction of Metro yard are listed as wetlands.

According to the district administration, clearance from the land revenue department is required to start land acquisition for large-scale construction activities.

The administration had provided a report on wetlands to the agriculture, land revenue and transport departments.

Meanwhile, as per the city development plan (CDP), a vision document published by the Kochi corporation, many of the arterial roads of the city, including MG Road, was once a large wetland. So was Banerji Road and the strip of land west of Shanmugham Road.

PUNE: The proposal for the Pune Metro Rail project will soon be forwarded to the central government by overruling objections raised by the state finance department, chief minister PrithvirajChavan said on Thursday.Chavan was replying to the calling attention motion of city MLC Mohan Joshi who made a demand that the proposal for the metro rail project be forwarded to the central government before August 15.The proposal, pending with the finance department for the last six months, was forwarded last week to the state urban development department, Chavan said. The state government is also examining whether a revised proposal, taking into account the current costs, should be sent to the central government, he added.The metro rail project for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad includes two routes with a total length of 31.5 km. The first route is between Vanaz and Ramwadi in Pune and the second route is between Pimpri Chinchwad and Swargate (which is to be extended up to Katraj), he said. As per the revised costs in 2013, the metro rail project will cost Rs 10,183 crore. The finance department has suggested that the municipal corporations share 20 % of the cost of the project instead of the earlier share of 10 %. The objections centered around fares per km of metro projects, whether the metro affects the palkhi procession route, and the provision for traffic control.

Chavan said the suggestion that the municipal corporations should share 20 % of the cost will be discussed with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. The other objections raised by the finance department will be overruled and the proposal will be sent to the central government for approval, he added.

NEW DELHI: A proposal to set up Rail Tariff Authority (RTA) for fare rationalisation got in-principle approval from the Union Cabinet today but the final nod was deferred for want of clarifications on various aspects like powers of the new body.The Cabinet deliberated upon the proposal to establish the first-of-its-kind body that will suggest the level of tariff for both the freight and passenger fares from time to time taking into account the input cost (diesel and electricity) and volatile market conditions.However, some members of the Cabinet sought clarifications from the Railways Ministry on some aspects like the composition and powers that the proposed RTA will have, sources said.While in-principle approval was given for setting up the body, the final nod was withheld till the Railways Ministry provides with the clarifications, the sources said.