ProUI

Move to axe 40 assistant stationmaster posts

Stationmasters at six railway divisions coming under the Southern Railway will observe ‘Black Week’ from Monday in protest against the arbitrary decision of the Divisional Railway Manager, Thiruvananthapuram, to axe 40 posts of assistant stationmaster.

The stationmasters will go an agitation from Monday as the conciliatory talks between the recognised unions failed and the Divisional Manager and the Senior Divisional Operations Manager are not ready to withdraw the controversial order. The intervention of the General Manager and general secretary of the Southern Railway Mazdoor Union has also not yielded any result.

Protest march will be taken out by the railway employees in Thiruvananthapuram, Nagercoil, Ernakulam, and Thrissur to drum up support for the agitation. Sources said the divisional authorities were trying to axe 20 posts of commercial clerk and those of enquiry-cum-reservation clerk, train clerks, and train ticket examiners.

“We do not want to cause hardship to the commuters by launching a stir and hence we are using all means to get the order withdrawn,” a station master said. Stationmasters said they would proceed to more intense strike like non-cooperation if the divisional railway authorities do not withdraw the order.

The decision is based on a work study report and the railways are of the view that considerable amount of money can be saved by axing the 40 posts. Stationmasters across the division extending from Sengulam to Vallathol Nagar are under tremendous work pressure and fewer hands mean safety will take a backseat. A memorandum signed by the Senior Divisional Operations Manager, Senior Divisional Finance Manager, and Divisional Personnel Officer axing the 40 posts said the Divisional Railway Manager had approved the decision. Of the 55 posts of additional stationmasters created in the division as per the directive of the Railway Board in 2011 and sanctioned by the FA and CAO, 40 posts were kept vacant. The posts were axed citing a rule that if a post remained unfilled for six months, it could be done away with.


Employees plan non-cooperation strike

Talks between unions, divisional authorities fail

SURAT: Government railway police (GRP) recovered 100 mobile phones worth Rs 7.90 lakh from an unclaimed bag on Vapi railway station on Friday. Police searched for owner of the bag and believed that its owner will contact police but no one turned up till Saturday after which police started investigation to find out if the phones are stolen.

During routine checking on Vapi railway platform police spotted two unclaimed bags below a bench on platform number II on Friday. Police inquired people standing nearby and stall owners to find owner of the bag but no one accepted ownership of the bag. Later police checked the bag for security reasons and found 100 mobile phones in it. Police seized the bag suspecting that some mobile businessman might have forgotten it at the railway station. Of the 100 phones, 56 are high-end smart phones of leading mobile brands. Majority of the phones were used pieces.

Police are now trying to reach last owners of the phone. "We will try to find out which mobile numbers were last used in these phones. It will lead us to the last owner of the phone. We can get further lead from. Reaching to last user will clear weather the phone was stolen or sold," said police.

Urban MLA Rowthu Suryaprakasa Rao says he is ready to lead an agitation to protect the historic Havelock Bridge across the Godavari.In a message to the round-table organised by the Andhra Kesari Yuvajana Samiti (AKYS) Sunday, in which he could not participate, the MLA said that the structure constructed during the British regime is the life breath of the people of Rajahmundry. He said that MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar would find a solution to the issue by taking up the issue with Railway Board officials with the help of other MPs and Union Ministers.Y.S. Narasimha Rao, historian and founder of AKYS, who addressed the conference, called upon the people to agitate in a phased manner. He said that technical and engineering experts had already said that there was no threat through the bridge was more than hundred years old.Sannidhanam Sastry, president of AKYS, said they would organise a rally with the support of artists, writers, and voluntary organisations on June 25.

President of Chilakamarthi Foundation Perumalla Raghunath said he was ready to sit on hunger strike should the need arise.

Former Railway driver Kota Bala Bau, who drove different trains on the old bridge, said he was prepared to donate from his pension to the fund that would be collected for protection of the bridge.

Noted Telugu literary personality Y. Ramakrishna quoted the write-up of late Gandham Subrahmanyam, Editor of popular vernacular local daily Samacharam : “Indelible signature of time on the hearts of Rajahmundry residents…goodbye friend.”

MUMBAI: "We had visited Gangotri and Yamnotri, and were just 14km short of reaching the Kedarnath temple when we were almost swept away by the flood waters," recalled ChaturbhujSarvaiyya (73), who was among the around 500 pilgrims who arrived in Mumbai on a special train on Sunday morning. After Chaturbhuj and his wife Devyani (63) got off the train, they immediately left for their hometown near Shirdi in Ahmednagar district—more than 200km away from Mumbai. Around 1,500 pilgrims boarded the 16-coach special train arranged by the Western Railway (WR) for free transit from Haridwar station to Mumbai. Several pilgrims were dropped at various destinations in Rajasthan and Gujarat before the train fianlly reached Mumbai Central at 4am. "Depending on the demand, we plan to operate more such special trains to bring back pilgrims stranded in Uttarakhand. The train will commence its journey from Haridwar. We will attach extra coaches to a few other trains operating between Dehradun and Mumbai," said Sharat Chandrayan, WR chief spokesperson.

The Sarvaiyyas, along with a group of 15 pilgrims, were stranded for more than three days near Kedarnath.

"As we were walking towards Kedarnath, we saw nature's fury from close quarters. We were forced to return to our lodge and were ensconced in the hills for three days with minimum ration. Prayers were our only hope," said Chaturbhuj.

When the weather cleared a bit, the group was taken to a safe base by bus. "We had a tough drive to Haridwar. The roads were very bad. We were shocked to see the damaged buildings, roads, bridges and areas near the shrines. By God's grace we reached Haridwar station, where the railway authorities had arranged for a special train to get us back to Mumbai," he added.

"These were the most unforgettable four days of my life; we were worried we would not reach home alive," said Dombivli resident Ramesh Patil (50), who undertakes the Char Dham Yatra every year in June with a group of devotees from the local Pimpleshwar temple.

Patil was among a group of 81 pilgrims stranded in the hills for four days, and finally rescued by the army.

Banihal (Jammu & Kashmir): When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flags off a train to Qazigund on Tuesday from Banihal in Jammu that will travel through the 11km Pir Panjal tunnel, the Kashmir valley will be just a step away from being fully linked to India’s extensive railway network.
For Ijaz Bhat, who has laboured with at least 1,300 workers and 150 engineers to build the country’s longest railway tunnel, it will be a moment of pride. “For me this is the best,” Bhat says, though he knows there’s a longer rail tunnel in China.
Built at a cost of Rs.1,300 crore, the T-80 tunnel will provide a second, all-weather link to the Kashmir Valley, which often becomes inaccessible in winter when the road through the 60-year-old Jawahar tunnel is blocked because of snow.
For now, there will be train services from Banihal to Qazigund in Kashmir valley and onward to Srinagar and Baramulla. The rail link from Banihal to Udhampur in Jammu, expected to be completed by 2017, will then provide a seamless connection to the rest of the country.
Saif-ud-din Malik, 65, who has never seen a train before, is barely able contain his excitement. “I have no words to express how much the people will benefit,” Malik said. “We had to walk for miles together. In winters, it got very difficult for us. We used to be stranded for 10-15 days when it snowed. It used to get very tough if someone was sick. Now in 10 minutes you can take the patient to a doctor in Kashmir.”
The improved connectivity is not only strategically important for India but will also help in integrating the people there with the rest of the country, according to Afsir Karim, a retired army general.
“Roads are few in Kashmir and these get blocked due to floods or snowfall. An all-weather rail link will help movement of people, essential goods and goods for trade, besides the movement of people,” Karim said. “The people of Kashmir have been feeling deprived for years. The more facilities you provide, the more it will help link them to the rest of India. If terrorists target this (rail network), it is likely to turn the Kashmiri people against them, as it means cutting off facilities. The network will work in its own way to bring peace to the valley and the region.”
Gulab Hussain Bhat, a government employee, says the train service from Banihal will mean saving on commuting to Srinagar. “My children travel from here to Srinagar to study engineering,” Bhat said. “They spend Rs.100-150 a day, but now they will be able to travel very cheap. So Rs.4,000-5,000 of our expenditure towards conveyance will be saved.”
The benefit extends to social aspects as well. “Our girls, who go to study in Srinagar, will come back home the same day,” Bhat said. “Earlier there was a lot of problem. A lot of girls discontinued their studies because families would not allow for stay overnight or stay away from home. So this will do a lot of good.”
The Pir Panjal tunnel is a part of the 345 km Jammu, Udhampur, Katra, Qazigund, Baramulla railway line. Of this, the 119km section between Baramulla and Qazigund in Kashmir was commissioned in 2009. The 53km Jammu to Udhampur section was opened to the public in 2005. The section that would connect Udhampur and Qazigund is expected to be completed by 2017.
For the railways, safety is a top priority. “Given the sensitivity of the region, adequate safety provisions have been made,” said Neeraj Sharma, chief public relations officer at Northern Railways. “Both the stations, track and tunnel as well as the train will be manned by security personnel.”

Madurai : The Tirunelveli– Erode-Mayiladuthurai passenger train will be partially cancelled between Tiruchchirappalli and Mayiladuthurai on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from June 25 to September 18.The Mayiladuthurai/ Erode–Tirunelveli Passenger will be partially cancelled between Mayiladuthurai and Tiruchirapalli on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from June 25 to Sept 18, a Railway press release said.

BANIHAL: Undeterred by challenges it faced while executing two big-ticket infra projects here, Hindustan Construction CompanyBSE 8.34 % will bid for such upcoming works in this region like the 13-km Arpinchala-Dharam underground railway project.The Mumbai-based firm has recently executed the 11-km long Pir Panjal railway tunnel, the third longest in the world, and also the Uri-II hydro power project in Jammu and Kashmir.The company is set to bid for the 13-km long Arpinchala- Dharam project as well, the official said."The Banihal-Qazigund railway tunnel, the longest in the country, was awarded to us in 2005. The track is now ready for the Railways. The amount of challenges we had to face was mind-boggling."However, that does not deter us from bidding for more projects and we are, in fact, working on the same route that will connect between Dharam-Sumbar. We will bid for more projects on the same track in the coming days," said tunnel's project manager Sharanappa Yalal.Sources said that government has already come out with a tender inviting developers to bid for the Arpinchala to Dharam project and HCC is making preparations to bid for it.HCC had bagged the Pir Panjal tunnel project from IRCON, a construction subsidiary of the Railways, in 2005. Though the initial cost of the project was Rs 400 crore, it went up to Rs 800 crore as the scope of the project widened.The tunnel, which connects the Bichelri valley of Banhial in Jammu with Qazigund in Kashmir, will reduce the distance between the two places to 18 km from 35 km by road."It will also help the economy of the two places. The tunnel will facilitate transportation during winter. During the most part of the year, the inclement weather forces closure of the road tunnel and the highway," Yalal said."However, it was not easy to execute the project. Initially, we had brought two road headers from Germany for boring the tunnel. But, as we started working, we found the geologically young and unstable mountain range is not fit for traditional way of tunneling. We then brought the New Austrian Tunneling method for the first time in India," he said.The official said the Uri-II 240 MW hydro power project is also ready for commissioning though it has been taken out of the PM's inauguration agenda during his two-day proposed visit here as NHPC said it had developed some technical snag."We have done the civil construction part of the project and the project hand over is likely to happen soon. It is up to NHPC to decide on the date of commissioning of the project," he said.NHPC is building the Rs 1,724 crore project at Baramulla on the river of Jhelum. Talking about the Pir Panjal project, Yayal said: "The company faced weather problems as well. During November to June period of the year, the area remains almost inaccessible due to snow, which envelopes the arterial road causing huge problems for transporting required materials. Getting manpower, even those who are unskilled, was difficult." The tunnel is a part of the 345-km long Jammu Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Railway Link, aimed at connecting Jammu to Baramulla on the northwestern part of the valley. Trains now ply from Baramulla to Quazigund and Jammu to Udhampur on this stretch. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to inaugurate the tunnel, thereby connecting Qazigund to Banihal. Around 90-km long stretch, between Udhampur to Banihal is to be completed to get the stretch connected by the Railways. Meanwhile, sources said Railways is likely to tie up with state transport authority to help passengers reach out to the unlinked passage by bus at no extra cost. Passengers would be able to book tickets up to Baramulla. An announcement in this regard is likely during the tunnel's inauguration by the Prime Minister. HCC has executed a majority of India's landmark infrastructure projects. Its landmark works include the Bandra Worli Sea Link, Mumbai - India's first and longest open sea cable-stayed bridge; the Kolkata Metro, Farakka Barrage and India's largest nuclear power plant at Kudankulam - Tamil Nadu.

(પ્રતિનિધિ દ્વારા) સુરત, સોમવાર
ઉધના-વારણસી અઠવાડીક ટ્રેનના શુભારંભનો કાર્યક્રમ આજે એક તમાશો બની ગયો હતો. ઉધના રેલ્વે સ્ટેશને યોજાયેલા આ કાર્યક્રમમાં ભાજપ અને કોંગ્રેસ પક્ષના કાર્યકરોએ ભારે નારાબાજી કરીને સરકારી કાર્યક્રમને રાજકીય અખાડો બનાવી દીધો હતો. ભારે શોરબકોર અને અરાજકતા વચ્ચે અંતમાં કેન્દ્રના રાજ્ય કક્ષાના મંત્રી ભરતસિંહ સોલંકીએ લીલી ઝંડી બતાવીને નવી ટ્રેનનું પ્રસ્થાન કરાવ્યું હતું.
ઉધના રેલ્વે સ્ટેશનના પ્લેટફોર્મ નં. ૨ ઉપર એક કલાક રાજકીય પક્ષોના કાર્યકરોએ સરકારી કાર્યક્રમને માથે લીધું હતું. ભાજપ અને કોંગ્રેસના કાર્યકરો સાંસદો અને નેતાઓ સાથે આવી પહોંચ્યા હતા અને કાર્યક્રમની શરૃઆતમાં સૂત્રોચ્ચાર સાથે માથાકૂટ શરૃ થઇ હતી. રાજકીય પક્ષોના કાર્યકરોનો એજન્ડા કાર્યક્રમ નહીં થવા દેવાનો હોય તેમ નારાબાજી છેક સુધી જારી રહ્યા હતા.
કાર્યક્રમના આરંભમાં સાંસદ સી.આર. પાટીલે વક્તવ્યની શરૃઆત કરતાં જણાવ્યું કે, ભાજપના આંદોલનને કારણે બે વર્ષ પછી સુરતને આ નવી ટ્રેન મળી છે. આ ટ્રેનથી જો કે, અમારી જરૃરીયાત સંતોષાતી નથી. બજેટમાં જાહેર થયા પ્રમાણે ટ્રેન શરૃ કરવામાં આવી છે. પણ, આ ટૂકડો ફેંકવાથી માંગણી સંતોષાતી નથી. કેન્દ્રીય મંત્રી ડૉ. તુષાર ચૌધરીએ એક સંમેલનમાં કરેલી ટીપ્પણીનો જવાબ આપતાં તેમણે જણાવ્યું કે, તેઓ કહે છે કે, આંદોલનને કારણે ટ્રેનો અપાઇ નથી. પણ, અમે આંદોલન કર્યું અને પશ્ચિમ રેલ્વેના ડીઆરએમએ એક જ દિવસમાં ૧૬ માંગણીઓ સ્વીકારી હતી.
જો કે, સાંસદ પાટીલે પ્રવચનમાં કોંગ્રેસને ફીક્સમાં મૂકવાની શરૃઆત કરતાં ભારે હોબાળો શરૃ થયો હતો અને કોંગ્રેસી કાર્યકરોએ સૂત્રોચ્ચાર કરીને તેઓને પ્રવચન કરતાં રોકવાની ચેષ્ટા કરી હતી. સાંસદને ઓછામાં ઓછા ચારેક વખત બોલતાં અટકાવવામાં આવતાં, મામલો ગરમાયો હતો. કોંગ્રેસી કાર્યકરોએ ઘોંઘાટ મચાવીને નારાબાજી ચાલું રાખતાં, ભાજપ કાર્યકરોએ પણ વળતો મોરચો માંડયો હતો.
કેન્દ્રીય મંત્રી તુષાર ચૌધરીએ સાંસદ પાટીલના મંતવ્ય સામે ભારે નારાજગી વ્યક્ત કરીને ભાજપ કેવી રીતે જાહેર કાર્યક્રમોમાં પ્રોટોકોલનો અમલ નહીં કરી, કોંગ્રેસના નેતાઓને મંચ ઉપર સ્થાન નથી આપવા દેતાં, તેની હૈયાવરાળ ઠાલવી હતી. તેમણે સ્પષ્ટ જણાવ્યું કે, કેન્દ્ર સરકાર પ્રોટોકોલ પ્રમાણે જ ચાલે છે. આ જે નવી ટ્રેન મળી છે, તે રજૂઆતોને કારણે મળી છે. આ રાજનૈતિક મંચ નથી, સરકારી કાર્યક્રમ છે. એટલે હું એવી કોઇ વાત નહીં કરૃં એમ તેમણે જણાવ્યું હતું. જો કે, કેન્દ્રીય મંત્રી તુષાર ચૌધરીને પણ પ્રવચન નહીં કરવા દેવા ભાજપ કાર્યકરોએ ભારે શોરબકોર અને નારાબાજી કરીને વાતાવરણ ગજવી નાંખ્યું હતું.
ઉધના-વારાણસી નવી અઠવાડીક ટ્રેનના શુભારંભના એક કલાકના કાર્યક્રમમાં પોણો કલાક નારાબાજી અને આક્ષેપ-પ્રતિઆક્ષેપમાં પૂરો થયો હતો. કેન્દ્રના રાજ્ય કક્ષાના મંત્રી ભરતસિંહ સોલંકીએ પોતાના ભાગે આવેલા પાંચ મિનિટના પ્રવચનમાં આ ટ્રેનથી બધા ખુશ છે, કોંગ્રેસ પણ ખુશ છે, ભાજપ પણ ખુશ છે, બધાએ આ ટ્રેન માટે ખૂબ રજૂઆત કરી છે. આ માટે દરેકને અભિનંદન આપું છું, એમ કહીને ટ્રેનને લીલી ઝંડી આપીને રવાના કરી હતી.

Cocking a snook at the so-called high-security Bangalore City Railway Station, thieves stole a 32-inch digital display monitor put up right at the main entrance.What is galling is that it is not the first such theft: it is in fact the fifth in the last 10 months. It was reported two weeks ago on June 6.

Security

The station is guarded by the Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force besides private security.It is also under closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera surveillance.Srinivas M., regional manager of Armor Security Solutions, which monitors CCTVs and display units, in his complaint, stated that Shashi Kumar, a security staff of the agency, noticed that the display unit, which was intact at around 2.30 a.m. on June 6, was missing at around 4.30 a.m. when he came for the second round of inspection.

The unit is worth around Rs. 15,000.

In February this year, two LCD display units were stolen from platform 7 and two more stolen in August 2012.

The City Railway Police, who have registered a theft case, said the CCTV camera images of the suspect were blurred and unhelpful.

A senior police officer at the City Railway Station, when contacted, said: “I don’t remember this case. Please call the junior officer as it is just a theft case.”

The railway police officer said: “We suspect it could be the handiwork of the same person in all the five instances.”


CCTV camera images of the suspect are blurred and unhelpful, say police

Madurai : The Tirunelveli– Erode-Mayiladuthurai passenger train will be partially cancelled between Tiruchchirappalli and Mayiladuthurai on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from June 25 to September 18.The Mayiladuthurai/ Erode–Tirunelveli Passenger will be partially cancelled between Mayiladuthurai and Tiruchirapalli on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from June 25 to Sept 18, a Railway press release said.