ProUI

GUNTUR: The South Central Railway will operate special trains between Hyderabad, Kakinada and Narsapur to clear the extra rush of passengers during the Vinayaka Chavithi festival.The Narsapur to Secunderabad train will leave Narsapur at 8 pm on Monday and reach Secunderabad at 6 am on Tuesday, according to senior divisional commercial manager C Ramakrishna. tnnThe train will halt at Palakole, Bhimavaram, Akiveedu, Kaikalur, Gudivada, Vijayawada, Guntur, Sattenapalle, Piduguralla, Nadikude, Miryalaguda and Nalgonda. Another pair of special trains will run between Kakinada and Hyderabad on Sunday and Monday.The Kakinada-Hyderabad train will leave Kakinada at 10.30 pm on Sunday and reach Hyderabad at 10.35 am on Monday, while the return train from Hyderabad would leave at 9 pm on Monday and reach Kakinada town at 9.30 am on Tuesday. The trains will halt at Rajahmundry, Bhimavaram, Gudivada, Vijayawada, Guntur, Sattenapalle, Nadikude, Miryalaguda and Nalgonda.

RANCHI: Railway sprinter Merlin K Joseph smashed the 13-year-old national record in women's 100m race in the semifinals but could manage only a bronze in the finals on the second day of the 53rd National Open Athletics Championships.Merlin clocked 11.35secs to win the semifinals heat number three as she bettered the earlier national record of 11.38secs in the name of Rachita Mistry set in 2000 in Trivandrum.

Merlin, however, finished third in the final race later in the day, clocking 11.95secs. Dutee Chand of ONGC won the gold in 11.73secs while H M Jyothi of Karnataka bagged the silver on a rain-marred day.

Aniruddha Gujar of LIC became the fastest male athlete of the Championships as he won the 100m dash in 10.46secs. Gujar rocketed out of the blocks in the evening's final to finish well ahead of Tamil Nadu sprinter Suresh Sathya (10.66secs). Abdul Najeeb Qureshi, the joint national record-holder in 100m, finished third just one hundredth of a second behind.

In a biggest upset of the day, Ankit Sharma of LIC pocketed the gold in men's long jump with a 7.73m ahead of Railways' Kumaravel Prem Kumar who had a hamstring injury during the finals and finished with his first round leap of 7.62m.

Prem Kumar had recorded 8.09m at 79th Railways Athletics Meet last month but his effort is yet to be ratified as a national record.

Half-milers Tintu Luka and Sajeesh Joseph, both of Railways, lived up to their billings. Tintu retained her gold while Sajeesh made a 'hat-trick' of wins in 800m.

It was the fifth title at the National Open for Sajeesh and fourth for Tintu. Unlike Tintu, who got the gold in her own style in 2:01.87, Sajeesh had to fight it out with ONGC runner Manjeet Singh right up to the wire as just one-hundredth of a second decided the victor.

Tintu's coach P T Usha was satisfied with the effort of her ward.

"I am satisfied with her performance as rain marred the event, and also it is the season ending Championship," Usha said when asked why her protege failed to clock sub two minutes.

The day also saw a gold for Chandigarh javelin thrower Ravinder Singh. Trained in Melbourne, where he used to register 80 plus marks regularly, Ravinder brought the first ever gold medal for his state in the Open Nationals.

Daya Ram (of Services) retained the decathlon title after being locked into a see-saw battle with V V Raneesh (Railways).

As expected ONGC's Kushbir Kaur won the women's 20km walk in 1:45:21.47, pushing Ranjana Gupta (1:48:00.0) of the Police to the second position while Rani Yadav (1:52:36.37) of the RSPB finished third.

In the men's shot put, ONGC's Om Prakash Singh (18.67m) won the gold while Inderjit Singh (18.58m) and Jasdeep Singh (17.97m) finished second and third respectively.

Results:

Men: 100m: 1. Aniruddh Gujar (LIC) 10.46 secs; 2. S Sathya (Tamil Nadu) 10.66; 3. Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (ONGC) 10.67

800m: 1. Sajeesh Joseph (Railways) 1:49.50; 2. Manjeet Singh (ONGC) 1:49.51; 3. Jinson Johnson (Services) 1:50.26

Long Jump: 1. Ankit Sharma (LIC) 7.73m; 2. K. Prem Kumar (Railways) 7.62m; 3. Raja Oomman (Kerala) 7.37m

Shot Put: 1. Om Prakash Singh (ONGC) 18.67m; 2. Inderjeet Singh (Haryana) 18.58m; 3. Jasdeep Singh (ONGC) 17.97m

Javelin Throw: 1. Ravinder Singh (Chandigarh) 75.47m; 2. Dinesh Kumar Rao (Rajasthan) 74.62m; 3. Rajendra Singh (Railways) 72.88m

Decathlon: 1. Daya Ram (Services) 6812 points; 2. V V Raneesh (Railways) 6742; 3. Ajay Yadav (Services) 6576

Women: 100m: 1. Dutee Chand (ONGC) 11.73 secs; 2. H M Jyothi (Karnataka) 11.87; 3. Merlin K. Joseph (Railways) 11.95secs

800m: 1. Tintu Luka (Railways) 2:01.87; 2. Sushma Devi (Railways) 2:03.11; 3. Sini A Markose (ONGC) 2:03.51

High Jump: 1. Reena (Police) 1.70m; 2. N K Siji (Railways) and Mallika Mandal (Railways) 1.65m

20,000m Race Walk: 1. Khushbir Kaur (ONGC) 1:45:21.47; 2. Ranjana Gupta (Police) 1:48:00.10; 3. Rani Yadav (Railways) 1:52:36.37.

PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday dedicated three road overbridges (ROBs) to the people. Of them, one is located in the state capital and two others in Gaya and Rohtas districts.Inaugurating the two-lane ROB at Kumhrar, he greeted the people and travelled from one end of the ROB to the other. This 610-metre-long bridge has been constructed at a cost of Rs 36 crore. ECR GM Madhuresh Kumar, Usha Singh, MLA, and road construction department secretary Pratyaya Amrit were among those present on the occasion. Earlier, the CM inaugurated two flyovers - one in Gaya and another in Rohtas - through video conferencing. A two-lane 658-metre-long road overbridge has been constructed at a cost of Rs 20 crore between Karimganj and Delha in Gaya district. Another overbridge at Dehri-on-Sone is 925 meter long and constructed at a cost of Rs 31 crore.Both these overbridges have been constructed with the support of railways. The Gaya overbridge has been funded by the state (56.54%) and the railways (43.46%), while the share of state and railways in Dehri-on-Sone overbridge is 55.36% and 44.64% respectively.The CM said that Gaya and Dehri-on-Sone road overbridges have fulfilled an old demand of the people of Gaya and Rohtas. ECR GM Kumar said it was a happy occasion as it would make communication system smooth for the people. He thanked the government and railway officials for completion of the projects.

According to railway officials, these ROBs would prove to be a boon for the people as they would help in decongesting traffic flow in Patna, Gaya and Dehri-on-Sone. An ECR official said these ROBs have been built with the latest technology to cope with huge traffic pressure in the towns. Kumhrar ROB has been built with the composite steel girder design technology, while two other ROBs at Gaya and Dehri-on-Sone were built with the press stressed concrete girder and bow string girder technology, he said.

The Kumhrar ROB would help people in reaching Gandhi Setu while going to Hajipur with greater ease. Even people intending to enter the state capital would not face traffic congestion, he said, adding that the ROB has been designed by Ircon and built with the help of modern technology.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the government is prepared to release necessary funds for the early completion of railway projects in the State. The Union government will release 50 per cent of the funds for ongoing projects and the State government will release the balance amount.Speaking at a programme organised to the lay foundation stone for Hosadurga Road-Chikjajur Junction Railway Doubling Project here on Sunday, he said that the State government was committed to improving the railway infrastructure. As a first step, the State Cabinet has approved acquisition of 500 acres of land in Kolar for setting up a coach factory. The project is worth Rs. 1,400 crore and work will commence shortly.On the long-pending demand of the people of central Karnataka for a railway line between Davangere and Tumkur, he said that land acquisition was a major problem. The project requires 1,350 acres of land. “The State government will try to implement the project as early as possible,” he added.

The New Delhi-Ludhiana Shatabdi Express will now halt at Jind Railway station.

"Beginning today, the train will halt at Jind on all seven days of the week," Congress MP from Rohtak Deepender Singh Hooda said.

Hooda, who travelled in the train from New Delhi to Jind today, said the new stoppage would help commuters of the area who frequently travel to Delhi and Ludhiana.

Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, addressing a rally at Hansi near Hisar on July 28, announced the train would have a halt at Jind.

Hooda told reporters in Jind that the work on Jind-Gohana-Sonepat railway line is expected to be completed by year-end.

"In the last Railway Budget, approval was given for electrification of Rohtak-Jind-Jakhal line. After completion of the work, an EMU train will run between Jind and Delhi," he said.

The MP said it was after about 116 years that Jind has got a new railway line (Jind-Gohana-Sonepat).

"Before this, the Jind-Narwana line was constructed in 1897," he said.

Sangrur, Sep 8 (PTI) An upgraded, daily New Delhi- Ludhiana-New Delhi Shatabdi Express train service was today flagged off at Sangrur railway station by local MP Vijay Inder Singla.

The service launched today would be a daily one as opposed to the earlier train with its limited frequency of operation.

"This Shatabdi train, which will now run on a daily basis, is an effort to link Sangrur with other major cities in neighbouring states and within Punjab

5800 People Penalised for Littering, Spitting etc., on Railway Premises During August, 2013


With a view toensure proper cleanliness in railway promises, South Central Railway vigorously implements the provisions of Indian Railways (Penalties for Activities Affecting Cleanliness at Railway Premises) Rules-2012.

DuringAugust, 2013, 5800 persons were detected / penalized for violating the provisions ofthis Rules by littering, spitting etc., o­n railway premises. This includes 865 persons in Secunderabad Division, 411 persons in Hyderabad Division, 2088 persons inVijayawada Division, 559 persons in Nanded Division and1130 persons in Guntakal Division and 743 persons in Guntur Division. An amount of Rs. 11.70 lakh/-was realized from these persons towards penalty.

During the first five months of thecurrent financial year, ie., April to August 2013, 32800 persons were detected for committing the offence of littering, spitting etc., o­n Railway premises and an amount of Rs. 66.00 lakh was realized from themtowards penalty.

The Indian Railways (Penalties for Activities Affecting Cleanliness at Railway Premises) Rules-2012 came into effect from November, 2012. The rules stipulate penalties up to Rs. 500/- o­nany person / passenger found either littering or spitting or urinating or defecating or pasting posters or dumping garbage o­n railway premises etc.

VIRUDHUNAGAR: With the Madurai railway division extending Karaikudi-Manamadurai-Karaikudi passenger till Virudhunagar via Aruppukottai, the long-standing demand for rail connectivity in the section has finally been met. The extended passenger train was formally inaugurated at Virudhunagar junction on Saturday morning.Viruthunagar - Manamadurai section was closed for broad-gauge conversion work in 2008 and the people in the region were stressing for the speedy completion of the works as the work proceeded at snail pace.After five years, the section was ready for train operation and the section was inaugurated for train operation in the presence of Union minister of state for civil aviation K C Venugopal on July 14. The recently flagged off Puducherry - Kanyakumari Weekly Express was the sole train plying through this section. As the local people were demanding more train services, the division has now extended Karaikudi-Manamadurai DEMU passenger till Virudhunagar.The extended passenger service, train number 76837 Karaikkudi-Virudunagar passenger (except Saturdays) will leave Karaikkudi at 6.15pm and arrive Manamadurai at 7.35pm to leave Manamadurai at 7.45pm and will reach Virudunagar at 9.45pm. Meanwhile, train number 76838 Virudunagar-Karaikkudi passenger (except Sundays) will leave Virudunagar at 6am, arrive Manamadurai at 7.40am to leave Manamadurai at 7.50am and will reach Karaikkudi at 9.35am. The train will stop at Devakottai road, Kallal, Panangudi, Sivaganga, Melakonnakulam, Manamadurai, Narikkudi, Tiruchchuli and Aruppukkottai.

Virudhunagar MP, Manick Tagore flagged off the train in the presence of divisional railway manager, A K Rastogi and Additional DRM, V Ajithkumar and other railway officials. A Malairajan, a member of the Consumer Forum in Aruppukottai welcomed regular train service on the stretch after five years. "The train timings are very beneficial for the office-goers. We urge the railway authorities to extend this train up to Senkottai so that many more benefitted," he said.

NEW DELHI: With projects worth Rs 1.45 lakh crore pending, the cash-strapped railways plans to offer incentives, including tax holidays, to attract private players to invest in pending socially desirable and strategically located projects.A parliamentary panel was recently informed that the railways will approach the finance ministry after formulating the proposal.The move is an attempt to make investments in socially desirable but economically unviable projects attractive under public-private-partnership (PPP) mode by offering tax incentives and concessions after the lukewarm response of private players in the sector.The state-run transporter is considering incentives such as tax holidays under the I-T Act, exemptions from central excise and custom duty on purchase of capital goods, relief from sales tax and VAT and relief from payment of octroi and entry tax.Parliament's railway convention committee has asked the railways to seriously examine the prospect of PPP in socially desirable projects in backward areas in consultation with the finance ministry."Most of the socially desirable projects have low financial returns in the short run, but yield high socio-economic dividends. The government has to support such projects," a railway official said.Faced with funds crunch and a large number of pending projects, railways has given priority to those projects in which state governments are sharing costs. States such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra have come forward to share the cost with railways to complete socially desirable projects.

As railways' internal resources are inadequate to fund these capital intensive projects, an inter-ministerial group with secretary of Planning Commission, chairman railway board and revenue secretary as its members has been formed to look into how socially desirable and backward connectivity projects are to be sanctioned and funded.

The parliamentary committee has recommended suitable funding mechanism for rail projects for development of backward areas while asking railways to carry out a fresh exercise to re-prioritize projects considering the available budget allocation as well as the need to complete as many projects as possible within a reasonable time period.

The committee found that because of the large number of ongoing projects, particularly under new lines and gauge conversion, the limited resources available get spread thinly, leading to a very long gestation period.

The panel observed the need to connect remote and backward areas through rail connectivity schemes to foster growth and fulfill the aspirations of the common man by providing much needed employment opportunities.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the government is prepared to release necessary funds for the early completion of railway projects in the State. The Union government will release 50 per cent of the funds for ongoing projects and the State government will release the balance amount.Speaking at a programme organised to the lay foundation stone for Hosadurga Road-Chikjajur Junction Railway Doubling Project here on Sunday, he said that the State government was committed to improving the railway infrastructure. As a first step, the State Cabinet has approved acquisition of 500 acres of land in Kolar for setting up a coach factory. The project is worth Rs. 1,400 crore and work will commence shortly.On the long-pending demand of the people of central Karnataka for a railway line between Davangere and Tumkur, he said that land acquisition was a major problem. The project requires 1,350 acres of land. “The State government will try to implement the project as early as possible,” he added.