Naxals today set ablaze four vehicles and a loader machine engaged in the construction of railway line in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Kanker district, police said.

The incident took place this afternoon between Rowghat and Tadoki villages under Koyalibeda police station limits where track-laying work is underway as part of the Dallirajhra-Rowghat railway project, a senior police official told news agency PTI.

A group of armed Naxals reached the spot and asked workers to leave the place, said police. The rebels then torched four trucks and a loader machine before taking a 40-year-old man, son of one of the project contractors, with them, the officer said.

Security forces have been rushed to the spot and further details are awaited, he said. The construction of Dallirajhara-Rowghat-Jagdalpur broad-gauge railway project covering 235 km would allow transportation iron ore from the Naxal-affected area in north Bastar.

Work on the first phase covering a 95 km route from Dallirajhara to Rowghat is in progress with 17 km of tracks up to Gudum commissioned for passenger train traffic.

Three people were killed and at least nine persons left injured after a Patna-bound train derailed near Manikpur railway station in Uttar Pradesh early this morning, police said. Thirteen coaches of the Vasco Da Gama-Patna Express derailed at 4.18 am after it left the Manikpur station, less than 12 hours after a Bolero jeep collided with a passenger train near Lucknow killing four and injuring two.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has ordered an inquiry into the incident and announced a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh each to the family of the dead, Rs. 1 lakh for those with grevious injuries and Rs. 50,000 for the injured. “Immediate rescue and relief operations started and an inquiry ordered into the derailment of Vasco Da Gama-Patna Express at Manikpur, UP. My sincere condolences to the families of the deceased,” Mr Goyal said in a tweet.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also conveyed his sympathies to the families of the victims and wished speedy recovery to the injured. The chief minister also declared Rs. 50,000 each to the seriously injured and Rs. 25,000 to those who suffered minor injuries.

The train derailed soon after leaving platform number 2 of the Manikpur Railway Station, about 250 km from Lucknow, officials said.  The train hadn’t picked up speed which is why the casualties were not heavy. Chitrakoot Superintendent of Police Pratap Gopendra Singh said a man and his six-year-old son from Bettiah district of Bihar died on the spot while the third person died at a hospital. Two of the injured are said to be serious.

Railway officials are on the spot and investigating the reasons that led to the accident. According to Additional Director General (Law and Order), Anand Kumar, fractured railway track could have derailed the coaches. “Another possible reason being cited is that due to some technical problem, emergency brakes were slammed, causing the derailment,” he said, adding that it can be confirmed only by railway authorities. The Uttar Pradesh government has asked the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to probe the tragedy, the ADG said.

Exactly a year ago, over 100 people were killed and nearly 200 injured when 14 coaches of the Indore-Patna Express jumped the rails near Kanpur. The number of deaths due to train accidents has already reached over 200 this year, the highest in a decade.

Earlier in August, about a dozen carriages of the Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express ran off the tracks in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar. At least 23 people were killed and more than 70 injured in the accident. A few days later, over hundred people were injured when 10 bogies of the Kaifiyat Express derailed in Auraiya district of the state.

Former Railway Board chairman AK Mittal had resigned taking responsibility for frequent train accidents. Ashwini Lohani, the former chairman of national carrier Air India, replaced him as the new chief of the board. The then Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, had also offered to quit, but was told to wait by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group and French automotive group Peugeot SA have discussed proposals to invest as much as $6 billion combined in India, a move that would boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to attract foreign capital in Asia’s third-largest economy, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Lotte may invest between $3 billion and $5 billion in the next five years, the person said asking not to be identified as the proposals are preliminary. The South Korean firm intends to invest in retail, chemicals, food processing and real estate, as well as develop railway platforms in the country, the person said. Separately, PSA Group, the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars, plans to spend about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to build a car factory and an engine plant in southern India, the person said.

PM Modi’s flagship “Make in India” plan encourages foreign firms to manufacture locally by offering easier land acquisition, pruning the number of approvals and, in some cases, offering incentives. The efforts have helped India move up in the World Bank’s ease of doing business survey and achieve an unexpected credit rating upgrade last week by Moody’s Investors Services.

“Lotte is exploring various business opportunities in India and other countries, but there is nothing confirmed or discussed in detail as to which areas to enter and how much money to invest,” Lotte said in a statement. A Paris-based spokesman for PSA referred to a statement in January on the cooperation with C.K. Birla Group in India, which included an initial investment of 100 million euros.

Lotte plans to develop urban real estate by adopting railway stations and maintaining them, the person said. In return, the railways will allow the South Korean firm to operate restaurants, hotels and shops, the person said. The confectionery arm of Lotte is in the process of setting up a new factory in India, according to the person.

The Indian government is discussing more than 550 foreign investment proposals worth about $85 billion, offering competitive terms to companies and ensuring uninterrupted supply of power and water to plants, the person said. The proposed projects include setting up factories in the areas of food processing, electric vehicle components and electronics among others, the person said.