ProUI

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi, Sept. 11:Union tribal affairs minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo has stirred a hornet’s nest with his suggestion to shift the East Coast Railway headquarters from Bhubaneswar to Vishakhapatnam.
The minister’s proposal in this regard to the Antony committee, set up by the Centre to address the concerns of leaders from coastal Andhra Pradesh over smooth division of the state, has triggered angry reactions in Odisha. The BJD is planning demonstrations at railway stations across the state for three days from tomorrow. The Congress and the BJP leaders are equally upset at the suggestion.
The issue has provided ammunition to the BJD in its war against the UPA-led Centre.
Finance minister and senior BJD leader Prasanna Acharya said there appeared to be a fresh conspiracy by the UPA government against Odisha. “The headquarters of the East Coast Railway was set up in Bhubaneswar in 2003 after a long struggle. The proposal seems to be a conspiracy hatched by the Congress-led UPA government. We must oppose it unitedly,” he said.
BJD youth wing president Sanjay Dasburma said the party workers would sit on dharna at railway stations across the state between 10am and 11am for three days from tomorrow. He also demanded resignation of Union minister of chemicals and fertilisers Srikant Jena, who hails from Odisha, for failing to protect the state’s interest. “We also want that Pradesh Congress Committee president Jaydev Jena and leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh should immediately meet the Prime Minister and urge him to drop Deo from his council of ministers,” said Dasburma.
In New Delhi, Deo, however, sought to clear the air over the issue, saying that he had been misunderstood. “I have said the South East Railway headquarters be shifted to Bhubaneswar first and then the East Coast Railway headquarters be moved to Vishakhapatnam with Vijaywada division under its control. This will benefit both Odisha and Andhra Pradesh,” Deo toldThe Telegraph.
Deo, in his submission to the Antony committee, has favoured making Vizag the capital of coastal Andhra Pradesh with extra amenities, including shifting of headquarters of the East Coast Railway from Bhubaneswar to Vishakhapatnam. The committee has sought the views of all the leaders from coastal Andhra Pradesh over the state’s bifurcation.
“The whole thing has been misunderstood. It is not my intention to deprive Odisha. If my suggestion is accepted, the entire rail network of Odisha will come under the south eastern zone,” Deo said. The minister said he also wanted the Khurda division, presently under the East Coast Railway, to be brought under the South Eastern Railway zone when its headquarters would be shifted to Bhubaneswar.
Jena, however, rebuffed the BJD’s demand for his resignation, saying Deo’s views were his own and did not reflect the Centre’s mind. “Those demanding my resignation should know that I was responsible for establishment of the East Coast Railway’s headquarters in Bhubaneswar. They are trying to make an issue out of nothing,” he said.
While state Congress veteran Narasingh Mishra said the party would not accept any proposal detrimental to the interests of the state, BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra said people would thwart any plans to move the East Coast Railway headquarters from the city.
A retired railway officer, who has worked for both South Eastern and East Coast Railway, said: “Such things are easier said than done, but in the eventuality of zonal headquarters being set up at Vishakhapatnam, we must demand that Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Balasore and Keonjhar-Barbil be brought under Odisha’s jurisdiction.”

rain schedules to be affected; long-distance trains to get priority

The Southen Railways is on the threshold of completing the project to provide double tracks between Shoranur and Mangalore, which will, once completed, enable railways to run more trains at greater speed. At present about 50 trains move in both directions on this 307-km section.

The final stage of the work, which will be done mostly manually and would require disconnection of power lines, will involve major signalling and engineering work. This will ensure the new line between Karakkad and Shoranur are linked and made to work effectively along with existing single track.

The Railways have planned to undertake the work between September 25 and October 16.

Under the project, there will be an additional platform line (Platform No.7) to hold 26 coaches at Shoranur while the length of the Platform 2 and 4 would be increased by 30 to 50 m so that long trains can be handled, a release said. A new lay-bye line to hold three engines would help the railways avoid delay in change of engines of express or passenger trains, the release added.

The Pre-Stressed Concrete sleepers will replace the wooden sleeper points for better safety of the running trains. During the final phase of work, signals and the interlocking system which ensures safety of trains will be not be available. As a result trains will move slower across Shoranur.

Train movement will be stopped for five hours every day resulting in regulation, short termination, diversion, and cancellation of trains. However, Railways said priority will be given to long-distance Mail and Express trains.

The release said goods traffic would also be restricted and diverted during this period.

High costs involved in DNA profiling of unidentified bodies recovered from along the railway tracks have led to a pile-up of cadavers in mortuaries at government hospitals coming under the Railway Police in Salem Sub-Division.

This sub-division alone has to deal with about 400 unidentified bodies in a year. Coimbatore accounts for 30 corpses in a year.

Under such circumstances, the Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Chennai wants the Railway police to go in for DNA profiling of bodies only in the event of the case being major, unusual or sensational. Railway police find this to be a tricky affair. In the absence of DNA profiling, when there is a claim (that the deceased was a legal heir of someone or someone was a legal heir of the deceased and also in the event of a case of death on or alongside the track being re-opened or challenged in court), Railway Police find it difficult to prove the identity and relationship of the victim with the claimant.

In most train accidents, the face of the victim is damaged beyond recognition. Legal procedures do not allow for recognition of a body by the complexion, height or dress worn by the accident victim at the time of death. The courts strictly go by DNA profiling.

The Railway Police have another problem to grapple with. Until, someone comes up with a claim of relationship with a person found dead along a railway track, the Railway Police are not be able to know whether the case can be classified as major, unusual or sensational.

In the absence of DNA profiling, the police will be in a fix in the court of law, say officers in the Railway Police who have been dealing with death on the railway tracks.

Officers dealing with such issues say that the only solution to the problem would be to allocate adequate funds to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory to perform a profile for all requests.

Forensic science experts admitted to The Hindu that the DNA kits were very expensive. They also admit that DNA profiling is the surest way to face legal implications that might arise in future. In Coimbatore region, there were 98 deaths on the tracks (including suicides and accidents) in 2011 and the number went up to 111 in 2012 and till July this year, it was 66.

Bhubaneswar: Ruling BJD to start 1-hr dharna at railway stations across Odisha from Sept 12 to 14 protesting against Union minister V Kishore Deo's demand for shifting of ECoR office to Vizag. This was informed by the BJD Youth Wing President Sanjay Dasverma at Bhubaneswar today. It may be noted that Deo has sent a letter to the Antony Committee, constituted by the Central government to assess the situation resulted from the announcement to form separate Telangana state, arguing, “Vishakhapatnam is situated at the centre of the east coast between Kolkata and Chennai, the East Coast Railways Headquarters which should have been located at Vishakhapatnam is unfortunately established at Bhubaneswar.” The Union minister had also stated, “The South Eastern Zonal Railway Headquarters (currently in Kolkata) may be shifted to Bhubaneswar with the Khurda division attached to it and the East Coast Zonal Headquarters must be shifted to Vishakhapatnam with the addition of Vijayawada Division in the lieu of Khurda Division.” Deo suggested that the South Eastern Zonal Railway Headquarters should be shifted from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar as “by no stretch of imagination can Kolkata be said to be any part of the South Eastern region.”

Northern Railwayon Wednesday launched Legal Information Management and Briefing System, (LIMS) a web-based portal, for effective monitoring and management of court cases of the zone here.Developed in-house, the system will facilitate monitoring disposal of pending legal cases online through a customized web portal.The system is envisaged to assist in managing, monitoring and briefing of the court cases of Northern Railway filed in various courts and forums in the jurisdiction of zonal railway, said a senior Northern Railway official.Through multi-faceted features, LIMS provides all related information of cases for a holistic legal perspective.One of the significant enabling features of the system is that it provides SMS alerts to concerned officers on notable orders of the court cases for prompt action and also enables the facility to know interim orders, the official said.Through this common platform, a single database can be accessed by authorized users in zonal headquarters or units and workshops of Northern Railway.The system provides online database of court cases, special emphasis on contempt cases, close monitoring of current month cases, court-wise summary, status-wise monitoring and generation of reports at different levels of the hierarchy.The web-based portal also provides hyperlinks to the websites of the apex and subordinate courts, Central Administrative Tribunal, Consumer Forums and Railway Claims Tribunals.

Sultanpur

सुल्तानपुर (ब्यूरो)। स्थानीय स्टेशन के जनरल टिकट काउंटर व रेल आरक्षण केंद्र में लगे कंप्यूटरों ने प्लेटफार्म संख्या एक पर स्थापित सर्वर रूम से नाता तोड़ लिया है। आए दिन सर्वर रूम के ट्रिप कर जाने से तंग मंडल मुख्यालय ने दोनों अनुभागों को इलेक्ट्रिक लाइन से जोड़ दिया है। इससे टिकट व आरक्षण काउंटर को 24 घंटे बिजली मिल सकेगी।
साल की शुरुआत में सुल्तानपुर जंक्शन के रेल आरक्षण केंद्र पर सिस्टम बाधा व विद्युत बाधा का ग्राफ तेजी से बढ़ने लगा था। मंडल मुख्यालय की स्वीकृति के बाद स्थानीय विद्युत इकाई ने बिजली आपूर्ति जोड़ने का कार्य शुरू कर दिया है। इससे अब आरक्षण केंद्र व जनरल टिकट काउंटरों को 24 घंटे लगातार बिजली सप्लाई मिल सकेगी।

Stepping up efforts for generating Rs.1,000 crore revenue from railway land, Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has concretised an action plan to develop 75 multi-functional complex (MFC) sites in the current fiscal.

RLDA is holding a pre-bid conference at Hyderabad on Thursday to invite bids for commercial development of MFCs at eight stations in cities of tourist and religious interest in Andhra Pradesh -- Dharmavaram, Karimnagar, Kurnool, Nellore, Nizamabad, Vijayawada, Zahirabad and Kacheguda. Prominent bidders and developers from retail and hotel chain industries have expressed their keen interest to attend the pre-bid conference, said an official.

RLDA is a statutory authority established by Railway Ministry for generating non-tariff revenue from railway land.MFC projects offers passengers various facilities such as shopping, food stalls, restaurants, book stalls, ATMs, stores, budget hotels, etc., said the official. - PTI

AGARTALA: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has prepared a masterplan to establish railway connectivity between the northeastern states, Bangladesh and Myammar.

According to NFR chief engineer (construction) Harpal Singh, a survey of one of the proposed railway projects connecting Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar has already begun.

He said, according to the plan sanctioned by the Indian Railways, a 252-km railway track would be laid between Jawharnagar, the headquarters of Dhalai district in Tripura, and Darlong city of Myanmar through Kolasib, a town in Mizoram.

"Survey of the 109-km railway line between Jawharnagar and Kolashib has started and the rest 148-km track, between Kolasib and Darlong, will be surveyed in the next phase. If all goes well, track-laying would begin in the next few years," said Singh.

Survey of the route from Jiribam to Moreh and then to Tamu in Myanmar via Imphal is expected to be completed by next March, said Singh. Survey for the route connecting Aizawl and Myanmar from Sairang covering 226 km has already started, he added.

Railway authorities have also sanctioned funds for a feasibility study of a link between Belonia in Tripura and Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Two more short distance routes are being considered. One of them would be a 80-km track connecting Panisagar in Tripura to Simanapur in Mizoram, while another would be a 45-km track connecting Patharkandhi in Assam to Kanmun in Mizoram, Singh added.

NFR is all set to issue work order to Ircon International Ltd to lay the railway tracks linking Agartala with Akhaura of Bangladesh, as per the bilateral agreements during the last visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka, Singh said.

Bhubaneswar: Ruling BJD to start 1-hr dharna at railway stations across Odisha from Sept 12 to 14 protesting against Union minister V Kishore Deo's demand for shifting of ECoR office to Vizag. This was informed by the BJD Youth Wing President Sanjay Dasverma at Bhubaneswar today. It may be noted that Deo has sent a letter to the Antony Committee, constituted by the Central government to assess the situation resulted from the announcement to form separate Telangana state, arguing, “Vishakhapatnam is situated at the centre of the east coast between Kolkata and Chennai, the East Coast Railways Headquarters which should have been located at Vishakhapatnam is unfortunately established at Bhubaneswar.” The Union minister had also stated, “The South Eastern Zonal Railway Headquarters (currently in Kolkata) may be shifted to Bhubaneswar with the Khurda division attached to it and the East Coast Zonal Headquarters must be shifted to Vishakhapatnam with the addition of Vijayawada Division in the lieu of Khurda Division.” Deo suggested that the South Eastern Zonal Railway Headquarters should be shifted from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar as “by no stretch of imagination can Kolkata be said to be any part of the South Eastern region.”

MANGALORE: Due to non-interlocked working at Shoranur station in connection with doubling between Shoranur and Karakkad stations from September 25 to October 16, many trains on this section, including Mangalore will be affected.

The details are as follows: Partial cancellation/short termination of mail/express and passenger trains details. Trains 56323/56324 Coimbatore-Mangalore Central-Coimbatore fast passenger trains will be cancelled between Palakkad junction and Pallipuram stations from September 25 to October 16. These trains will run between Coimbatore junction and Palakkad junction and between Pallipuram and Mangalore Central only, during this period.

Trains 56651/56650 Coimbatore-Kannur-Coimbatore fast passenger will be cancelled between Palakkad junction and Pallipuram stations from September 25 to October 16. These trains will run between Coimbatore junction and Palakkad junction and between Pallipuram and Mangalore Central only, during this period

Trains 16605/16606 Mangalore Central-Nagarcoil junction-Mangalore Central Eranad Express will be cancelled between Thrissur and Kuttipuram stations from September 25 to October 16. These trains will run between Nagarcoil junction and Thrissur and between Kuttipuram and Mangalore Central only, during this period. Train 16606 will run as a passenger special between Kuttipuram and Mangalore Central keeping the timings of train 16859 Chennai Egmore-Mangalore Central Express.

Train 16859 Chennai Egmore-Mangalore Central Express will be cancelled between Palakkad junction and Mangalore central from October 2 to 15. Train 16860 Mangalore Central-Chennai Egmore Express will be cancelled between Mangalore Central and Palakkad junction from October 3 to 16. These trains will run between Palakkad junction and Chennai Egmore only during the above period.

Connecting bus service will be arranged for reserved passengers of Train 16605/16606 Mangalore Central-Nagarcoil junction Ernad Express between Kuttipuram and Thrissur. Similar arrangement will also be made available for the reserved passengers of Train 13351 Dhanbad /Tata Nagar -Alapuzha Express, 17230 Hyderabad-Kochuveli Sabari Express, 12511 Gorakhpur-Thiruvananthapuram Central Raptisagar Express, 16327 Korba-Thiruvananthapuram Central Express, 12521 Barouni-Ernakulam junction Express and Train No.16325 Indore-Thiruvananthapuram Central Express between Ottappalam/ Wadakkanchery and Shoranur.