ProUI

The Centre on Monday bought more time to resolve the murky politics within the Railway Board for the post of chairman by giving an extension to member mechanical Arunendra Kumar to continue as acting chairman for one more month.The appointments committee of the Cabinet failed to find a suitable candidate for the post within the three months that it had posted Mr. Kumar as acting chairman after the superannuation of Vinay Mittal on June 30.Apparently concerned by recent developments beginning the bribery scam for the top posts in the board and the spate of charges levelled against a number of others, the ACC is avoiding pitfalls that might bring disrepute to the government.Top nine contenders for the high post have been eliminated on one ground or the other as a result of which the CVC has so far cleared only two names for the top post -- Radhey Shyam and A.K.Mittal, both zonal general managers.

The Railway Ministry has not been able to take a call on these two names nor on the controversy surrounding North Frontier Railway general manager R.S.Virdi against whom a 10-year-old case had been reopened and the CVC has imposed minor penalties.

Several representations have been made including that by officers association taking exception to the manner in which the CVC had sought to impose penalties against officers complying with orders of seniors.

Mr. Virdi’s senior, former member Sampath Dhasarathy while protesting the CVC order against him had also taken upon himself the responsibility of the order and absolved his juniors in a letter to the Railway Minister.

The ACC apparently does not want to dilute the norms nor ignore the cases pending against senior members while making a final decision. The CVC has referred to the CBI a case for enquiry against Mr. Kumar making it difficult for the government to regularise his posting.

It remains to be seen if the government will dilute the twin norms required for posting as chairman. One has to have served as zonal general manager and must have two years of residual service, besides, of course, clearance from the CVC.

The DMRC is taking appropriate steps to handle extra traffic expected on Line - 1 (Dilshad Garden – Rithala) tomorrow to facilitate passenger traffic on the metro system and feeder buses. Necessary coordination and information has been received from security agencies regarding the same.

The Centre on Monday bought more time to resolve the murky politics within the Railway Board for the post of chairman by giving an extension to member mechanical Arunendra Kumar to continue as acting chairman for one more month.The appointments committee of the Cabinet failed to find a suitable candidate for the post within the three months that it had posted Mr. Kumar as acting chairman after the superannuation of Vinay Mittal on June 30.Apparently concerned by recent developments beginning the bribery scam for the top posts in the board and the spate of charges levelled against a number of others, the ACC is avoiding pitfalls that might bring disrepute to the government.Top nine contenders for the high post have been eliminated on one ground or the other as a result of which the CVC has so far cleared only two names for the top post -- Radhey Shyam and A.K.Mittal, both zonal general managers.

The Railway Ministry has not been able to take a call on these two names nor on the controversy surrounding North Frontier Railway general manager R.S.Virdi against whom a 10-year-old case had been reopened and the CVC has imposed minor penalties.

Several representations have been made including that by officers association taking exception to the manner in which the CVC had sought to impose penalties against officers complying with orders of seniors.

Mr. Virdi’s senior, former member Sampath Dhasarathy while protesting the CVC order against him had also taken upon himself the responsibility of the order and absolved his juniors in a letter to the Railway Minister.

The ACC apparently does not want to dilute the norms nor ignore the cases pending against senior members while making a final decision. The CVC has referred to the CBI a case for enquiry against Mr. Kumar making it difficult for the government to regularise his posting.

It remains to be seen if the government will dilute the twin norms required for posting as chairman. One has to have served as zonal general manager and must have two years of residual service, besides, of course, clearance from the CVC.

The DMRC is taking appropriate steps to handle extra traffic expected on Line - 1 (Dilshad Garden – Rithala) tomorrow to facilitate passenger traffic on the metro system and feeder buses. Necessary coordination and information has been received from security agencies regarding the same.

Mass awareness drive takes up at railway stations in Berhampur and Puri

East Coast Railway has started a mass awareness drive to check incidents of looting of money and valuables from passengers by touts and miscreants during the festive rush in trains.

As part of this project, an awareness programme continued at Berhampur railway station on Monday. As per railway authorities similar drive was also taken up at Puri railway station. Such initiative had been started in Bhubaneswar railway station and during next few days such awareness building efforts would be taken up in other major railway stations under East Coast Railway.

The railway authorities had joined hands with personnel of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) for the purpose. To draw attention of passengers and to pass on the message in entertaining manner, street play, folk dance as well as mock drills was organised at Berhampur railway station.

Assistant security commissioner of East Coast railway P.K.Mansingh said it has been observed that usually passengers are looted by miscreants who use intoxicating narcotics through food materials to make their victims unconscious. Usually these incidents increase during festive season like Durga puja. Mr Mansingh advised all to be cautious and not to accept any food materials from any stranger except from the authorised vendors by the railways.

The awareness campaign started with a realistic mock rescue of a passenger from the Visakha Express, who was shown to be drugged by some miscreants in the train. Most passengers at the station initially felt something real had happened as the actor was carried on a stretcher by policemen. It was followed by a street play ‘Bhul Hoigala’ produced by RPF, Berhampur, which showed up how miscreants befriend gullible passengers and make them eat food materials laced with a sedative. Most attractive part of the campaign was Dhuduki folk dance performance by Alok Bisoi and troupe, who used the popular folk form to pass on the caution of modern era. Pamphlets describing precautions that should be adhered by the passengers for protection against cheats and miscreants were distributed.

Imphal/GUWAHATI: The target to complete the ongoing Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal rail project being executed by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has been extended to March, 2018, subject to availability of funds, a source said.In November, 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation of the project which will connect Manipur's Jiribam sub-division bordering Assam and Tupul in Manipur's Tamenglong district.Later, the project was extended to Imphal. The government might further extend the rail line up to the border town of Moreh to connect the region with Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries.If the mode of the current funding level continues, the completion target (from Tupul to Imphal new line section) may have to be extended up to March, 2021, a source said on Monday.A parliamentary committee, comprising 12 MPs, is currently visiting Imphal to obtain a detailed report on planning, implementation and performance of the project. The initial target to complete the project from Jiribam to Tupul was March 2010, a Manipur government source added. The overall progress of work till August, 2013 is about 50 per cent, he added.One of the key factors behind the delay is its resurvey of the alignment for the proposed line to avoid submergence owing to the proposed Tipaimukh hydro-electric project, a source said.Other reasons for the delay are security issues of the survey teams, difficult terrains, land acquisition, militancy, frequent bandhs, ban on railway project work and poor connectivity of NH-37 (Jiribam-Imphal route), the source added. The parliamentary team has been told that construction work in the first 12 km section from Jiribam to Dholakhal has been completed and an engine test run was done in March, 2012.Due to weight restrictions, heavy machinery like shotcrete machines, weighing up to 35 tonnes, cannot be transported in a single piece, the official said, while emphasizing the need to strengthen the two bailey suspension bridges along the deplorable road.Before wrapping up its two-day Manipur visit on Monday afternoon, the parliamentary team, led by Francisco Sardinha, also convened a separate meeting with officials of the textile ministry for promotion of the industry in the state.

HYDERABAD: Seven bogies of a goods train derailed at Vizianagaram railway station this evening, Government Railway Police said.

No one was injured in the mishap, they said. The incident occurred at around 6.45 pm at platform number 5.

One of the rails was broken, which probably caused seven bogies of the Raipur-bound goods train carrying gypsum to derail, according to the preliminary probe.

No one was injured and train movement was not affected as platform number 5 is meant only for goods trains, a GRP officer said.

The 12-member delegation of Lok Sabha Committee on Estimate that arrived here yesterday met top officials of various Government Departments of Manipur including Ministry of Textiles on Monday to discuss various Central sponsored projects, especially Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal rail link undertaken in the state.State Chief Secretary PC Lawmkunga and other top officials of various Government Departments including Forest, Transport, Revenue and Commerce and Industries attended the meeting held at Hotel Classic here.The meeting discussed various projects now undertaken in the state under the sponsorship of the Central Government, but prominently the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal rail line and performance of North East Frontier Railways (NEFR), official sources said.The Lok Sabha Committee on Estimate also gathered a detailed report from the officials of Ministry of Textiles on Manipur’s textile projects funded by the Centre and enquired about further requirements of these projects during the meeting.“We emphasize on the railway project during the meeting,” Francisco Sardinha, chairman of the committee told newsmen after the meeting.Fransico further said coordination among various Government Departments of the state is needed to meet the 2016 target set to complete the railway project.

Asked if the Lok Sabha Committee on Estimate is satisfied with the current progress of the railway project, Francisco said they were partly satisfied and partly not, but there is certain impediment in the progress of the project and this would also be put up before the Railway Ministry.

The Government of India would be urged to take more steps to ensure the project finish on time and to provide all the further necessities so that the completion of the project is facilitated, he said.

A team of Lok Sabha's Committee on Estimates arrived here today from Aizawl on a two-day official visit to the State.The team would hold a meeting about Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway project and prospects of textile industry in Manipur tomorrow.The team of MPs including Dr Th Meinya was received at Tulihal Airport by Chief Secretary PC Lawmkunga, DGP MK Das and Railway officials.Speaking to media persons at the airport, chairman of the committee Francisco Sardinah said that their visit to Imphal is concerned with the railway project and administration.He went on to say that they are on a goodwill mission.The MPs would hold a meeting with officials of the Northern Frontier Railways at Classic Hotel at 10 am tomorrow and obtain a progress report of the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway project.Later in the afternoon, the MPs would hold another meeting with officials of the Ministry of Textiles and the State Government for an assessment of all the activities taken up in Manipur for development of textile industry in the State.

We are contemplating the idea of withdrawing all cases filed against farmers who staged rail roko during the recent Cauvery agitation and Mandya MP Ramya has submitted three letters in this regard, said Railway Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge here yesterday.Speaking to media persons after an inspection of the preparations for today’s visit of AICC President Sonia Gandhi to the Sugar Town, he said that a detailed report on cases registered against farmers in Hubli division had already been done and the Railways will act on the decision taken on the issue by the Government.

Track Doubling

Declaring that there was no dearth for funds for the ongoing track doubling works on the Bangalore-Mysore Railway track, Mallikarjuna Kharge said that the works would be completed once the State Government cleared the hurdles faced for acquisition of required lands in several parts of Srirangapatna and Maddur.He further said that the Railways was prepared to undertake both the track doubling and electrification works together and called for active public involvement in the project.The Railway Minister also expressed satisfaction over the preparations made for the visit of Sonia Gandhi.Medical Education Minister Sharanaprakash Patil, MP Ramya, MLA Narendra Swamy, District Congress President Athmananda, State Women’s Congress President Manjula Naidu, Zamiulla, M.D. Jayaram, Sathyananda, Somashekar Belur, Ramalingaiah and others were present.