RAILWAY SAMACHAR

Lucknow : Chaos at Charbagh

LUCKNOW: Chaos prevailed at Charbagh railway station on Friday evening when the passengers of Ulema Special train from Lucknow to Azamgarh pulled the train moments after it rolled out of the platform at 9.45pm. The agitated passengers alleged that the railway authorities flagged the trainoff despite the fact that the passengers were still boarding the train. Subsequently, on the intervention of senior railway authorities, the issue was resolved and the train finally left at 10.30pm, 45 minutes behind schedule. The Ulema Council Uttar Pradesh (UCUP) office bearers had booked two trains of 20 coaches each to ply between Azamgarh and Lucknow on Thursday night and return back to Azamgarh on Friday night. Around 6,000 members of UCUP had arrived inthe state capital to attend a meeting. However, when they gathered at the Charbagh railway station on 20th february Friday evening, it was discovered that the count of passengers had increased by 1,000. This led to mismanagement and subsequent delay in accommodating the additional passengers. However, the first train left Lucknow at 10.45pm while the secondtrain scheduled to leave at 11.30pm left on time. The chain pulling reportedly led to delay in some other trains arriving at Lucknow. But normal traffic was restored shortly thereafter.

ATS to grill IM founder-member about train blasts

MUMBAI: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) will question founder member of Indian Mujahideen (IM) Sadiq Shaikh to examine the group's involvement in the September 2006 serial train blasts."On Friday, we filed an application in the MCOCA court, which has passed theorder granting his custody,'' said ATS additional commissioner Param Bir Singh. Shaikh, along with several other IM members, was arrested by the city crime branch in September last year and is accused of engineering blasts in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Mumbai since 2005. The ATS, which investigated the train blasts, had already chargesheeted 13 SIMI members for manufacturing and planting bombs in the train. Recently, the crimebranch caught IM suspects, claiming they were responsible for the blasts in Mumbai since 2005 - 7/11 and 26/11. In the chargesheet, the ATS had mentioned that the RDX used in train blasts was brought from Pakistan and 11 Pakistanis were also involved in the terror strike. Soon after the detection, the state government had announced a reward of Rs 25 lakh for the ATS team. A total of 188 people died and 817 were injured in thetrain blasts. Meanwhile, crime branch officials claimed that IM suspects, Sadiq, Arif and Saif, had disclosed during interrogation that the bombs used in the train explosions were assembled in a 225 sq-ft flat at Sewree. However, senior policeofficers were baffled as they found no links between the IM suspects and the 13 SIMI members caught by the ATS. Moroever, Faisal Shaikh, main accused in thetrain blasts told the Enforcement Directorate that he was not involved in the explosions but admitted that he had undergone training in Pakistan.

Motormen may go on strike again

MUMBAI: It has been over two months since Western Railway (WR) motormen went ona strike to protest against "inhuman work schedules''. However, not much seemsto have been done as only 10 of the vacancies have been filled. Some motormen said that with the introduction of 40 services in January, the situation worsened and they were considering going on strike again. A seniorloco inspector said there was a shortage of 30-40 motormen daily. WR chief PRO S S Gupta said 20-30 more motormen would join by March-end. Also, 450 candidates had passed the written test and would undergo training by the month end.

Kanpur Central to undergo renovation

KANPUR: General Manager, North Central Railways (NCR), Sudesh Kumar carried out annualinspection at the Kanpur Central railway station. He along with divisional railway manager (DRM), Deepak Dave and deputy chief traffic manager, Manoj Sinha inspected platform number one, passenger facilitation centre,waiting rooms under construction, the newly constructed VIP waiting room, railway hospital, tea stalls etc at the Kanpur Central railway station. Sudesh Kumar said, "we have undertaken 29 projects in order to renovate this station out of which four projects are already over. For the completion of there maining 25 projects, we will be incurring a total cost of Rs 18-20 crore. This would include platforms elongation, platform surfacing, etc will be completed bythe month of June, 09."He said, construction of washable apron and a waiting room will be over by March. "Kanpur Central railway station will have two escalators installed, this will facilitate passengers ", he added. Kumar said, that a total of 45 new trains have been introduced, out of which 19 have been given to the North Central Railways and 10 trains will pass through Kanpur railway station. Construction of boundary wall and foot-overbridge willbe done on priority basis. To resolve dearth of coolies, Sudesh Kumar said, recruitment of coolies has been invited and the process is on. Soon, the vacant post of coolies will be filled.

Phase-I work on rail affects local businesses

MUMBAI: Murali Iyer, proprietor of Vasant Restaurant on Hirachand Desai Road near Ghatkopar station, was forced to let go of some of his employees after his business recorded a 70 per cent drop in business over the last seven months. Dermatologist Dr Raksha Maniar, who has a practise in the area, has seen a 40per cent decrease in her patients. Almost all commercial establishments on H D Road said that have seen at least a 50 per cent slump in business, and it's notdue to the economic slowdown. Blame it on the construction work of Phase-1 ofthe Metro railway station at Ghatkopar. Mumbai Metro One (MMOPL) has virtually barricaded the road, and this in turn, has affected shop owners and residents. The situation, which began May 2008, has proved a death knell for the shops lining the residential-cum-commercial locality. It is unlikely to change anytime soon, as work is slated to end only in 2011. According to Iyer, the narrow space left for pedestrians, poor lighting, and the constant flow of dust is a deterrent to patrons. Even basic necessities likewater supply and electricity has been affected. "At nights, there's usually acomplete blackout in an otherwise illuminated area of Ghatkopar, said one harried resident. Alleging inordinate delay in completion of the construction work, proprietors are demanding compensation for loss of business, and are currently in negotiation with the government. "The construction will continue to hit our businesses for at least another two years. We want compensation,'' They nowintend to form a Hirachand Desai Road Welfare Association to fight for theircause. Meanwhile, MMOPL director K P Maheshwari said his company was taking care of the grievances. MMRDA spokesman Dilip Kawathkar said they will be given a proper hearing. Negotiations between residents and shop keepers and the MMRDA are goingon, but a resolution has not been reached.