The Uttar Pradesh government has renamed Jhansi Railway Station as ‘Veerangana Laxmibai Railway Station’ after Rani Laxmibai.

The announcement was made by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday in a tweet in Hindi.

“The Jhansi Railway station will now be known as ‘Veerangana Laxmibai Railway Station’,” he wrote.

A notification to this effect has been issued by the UP government and the Railways has started preparations to implement the change, Chief PRO of North Central Railway, Prayagraj, Shivam Sharma, said.

Earlier the Mughalsarai Railway station was renamed as Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction and the Faizabad Railway station as Ayodhya Cantt.

1CommentsSince coming to power, Mr Adityanath government has changed names of several establishments including those of Faizabad and Allahabad districts, which were renamed as Ayodhya and Prayagraj, respectively.

A man has been arrested for stealing luggage bags of senior citizens from railway stations and Kashmere Gate ISBT bus stand on the pretext of helping them, the Delhi police said on Thursday.

Fifty-four-year old Suraj Parkash from Ghaziabad would approach senior citizens and women, who were alone and in need of some help and disappear with their luggage and bags. He used to present himself well in order to win the trust of people.

A 56-year-old woman from Haryana’s Hisar lodged a complaint at the Kashmere Gate police station on October 18, stating that the accused offered to help her with bags at ISBT and then disappeared with everything.

The stolen bag comprised clothes, a mobile phone, some jewellery and documents, the police said.

A case was registered at the Kashmere Gate police station. During the investigation, the photos of the suspect were circulated across bus stops and railway stations, the police checked CCTV footages and spotted one suspicious individual following the complainant, the police said.

Thereafter, more footage were analysed to ascertain the suspect, and it was found that he committed similar thefts earlier also, police said.

On December 21, the accused visited Kashmere Gate bus stand again and was caught. A raid was conducted, 51 bags and 26 stolen mobile phones were recovered from his home, Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

During interrogation it was disclosed that the accused, who is a B.Sc graduate from Meerut University, used to run a medical store but closed it due to losses and started committing crime around two years ago, Mr Kalsi said.

Suraj Parkash has been involved in nearly 150 thefts near ISBTs and railway stations. He also claimed that he has never been arrested earlier, the police said.

The accused never used any vehicle for any of the crimes. At home, when asked about the number of bags with him, he told his wife that he works in a ticket booking center, those bags belong to passengers and he will return them soon.

Suraj Parkash has a daughter and son who are studying in Class 10 and 12.

A railway engineer in Bihar has been suspended and booked for trying to illegally sell off a vintage steam engine as “scrap”, a senior official said on Tuesday.

According to Alok Agrawal, DRM of Samastipur Division under East Central Railway, an FIR was registered on the previous day against seven persons, including the engineer Rajiv Ranjan Jha, at Banmankhi in Purnea district.

The matter involves a metre gauge engine stationed in Purnea for public display which Mr Jha was caught trying to get dismantled on December 14 with a gas cutter which was being handled by helper Sushil Yadav.

When a sub-inspector deployed at the RPF outpost, MM Rehman, came to enquire, the engineer brandished a letter claiming that the Divisional Mechanical Engineer had ordered that scrap material from the engine be taken to the diesel locomotive shed nearby.

Mr Jha also wrote a memo confirming the same to Mr Rehman before leaving the spot with scrap material laden on a pick up van.

The lid was blown off the racket a day later when RPF personnel Sangita brought to the notice of her superiors that the scrap had not reached the diesel shed.

Further investigation revealed that no order for transportation of scrap had been issued and the letter which Mr Jha was armed with, was fake.

Demanding a complete waiver of farm loans and compensation to the relatives of those who died during the anti-farm laws stir, farmers blocked railway tracks at various places in Punjab for the second day on Tuesday, affecting the movement of 156 trains.

According to Ferozepur division railway officials, 84 trains were cancelled, 47 short-terminated and 25 short-originated.

Farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee launched the agitation on Monday, demanding a complete loan waiver, compensation to the families of those who died during the year-long anti-farm laws stir and withdrawal of the criminal cases slapped against them.

They are also demanding a compensation of ₹ 50,000 per acre for damaged crops, the release of the pending dues for the sugarcane crop and the abolition of the contract system.

Satnam Singh Pannu, a farmer leader, said they will not lift the “dharna” till the demands are met.

“During a meeting on September 28, we were given an assurance by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, but the state government later backed out. Besides the four places where farmers are sitting on a dharna, we will start the protest at three more sites in Punjab from Wednesday,” he said.

The farmers are presently squatting on railway tracks at different places in Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur.

Paramjit Singh Ghloti, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), said, “We are agitating against the non-implementation of the promises made by the Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. The government is befooling farmers.” The protest will continue on Wednesday, he added.

CommentsGhloti said their main demands include compensation to the families of the farmers who committed suicide for the non-payment of their debt and ₹ 360 per quintal for sugarcane.

The CBI has arrested Northeast Frontier Railway Chief Electrical Engineer V K Upadhyay and recovered ₹ 2.19 crore in connection with a bribery case in which his deputy Ranjit Kumar Borah was arrested while allegedly receiving ₹ 15 lakh bribe, officials said on Wednesday.

The agency had carried out searches at the premises of the accused in nine locations, including Guwahati, Patna and Noida, on Tuesday, leading to the recovery of around ₹ 2.19 crore in cash and several incriminating documents.

“Out of this, cash of ₹ 2.13 crore (approximately) and details of three flats in Noida were found at the premises of Chief Engineer (Upadhyay),” CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.

He said that during searches at the premises of Borah, the agency recovered around ₹ 6 lakh in cash and details of six flats, including in Guwahati, in his name and that of his family members.

It is alleged that Borah was favouring a Patna-based company, Sun Shine Device Pvt. Ltd., in projects of Northeast Frontier Railway, they said.

After registering the FIR, the CBI carried out a raid when Niraj Kumar, an employee of company director Chintan Jain, was delivering the bribe to Borah, they said.

Borah, Jain and Kumar were arrested by the agency. During investigation, the role of Upadhyay also surfaced who was then taken into custody.

It is alleged that the company had given Borah two benami properties in return for favours extended by him, they said.

“It was alleged that the public servant while posted earlier as Deputy Chief Electrical Engineer (Construction) in NFR had obtained two immovable properties, viz. benami flats, as alleged illegal gratification from the director of the private company,” Joshi said.

It was further alleged that the accused demanded a bribe of ₹ 2.10 crore from Jain in lieu of the flats for extending undue benefits to him in the past and promising such help in future, officials said.

The company allegedly had made partial payments in several installments in the past, they said.

The CBI got information that ₹ 15 lakh cash from the alleged bribery will be paid on Tuesday in Maligaon, Guwahati following which the raid was organised and Borah was nabbed in the process of receiving the money, they said.

The CBI has arrested Northeast Frontier Railway Chief Electrical Engineer V K Upadhyay and recovered ₹ 2.19 crore in connection with a bribery case in which his deputy Ranjit Kumar Borah was arrested while allegedly receiving ₹ 15 lakh bribe, officials said on Wednesday.

The agency had carried out searches at the premises of the accused in nine locations, including Guwahati, Patna and Noida, on Tuesday, leading to the recovery of around ₹ 2.19 crore in cash and several incriminating documents.

“Out of this, cash of ₹ 2.13 crore (approximately) and details of three flats in Noida were found at the premises of Chief Engineer (Upadhyay),” CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.

He said that during searches at the premises of Borah, the agency recovered around ₹ 6 lakh in cash and details of six flats, including in Guwahati, in his name and that of his family members.

It is alleged that Borah was favouring a Patna-based company, Sun Shine Device Pvt. Ltd., in projects of Northeast Frontier Railway, they said.

After registering the FIR, the CBI carried out a raid when Niraj Kumar, an employee of company director Chintan Jain, was delivering the bribe to Borah, they said.

Borah, Jain and Kumar were arrested by the agency. During investigation, the role of Upadhyay also surfaced who was then taken into custody.

It is alleged that the company had given Borah two benami properties in return for favours extended by him, they said.

“It was alleged that the public servant while posted earlier as Deputy Chief Electrical Engineer (Construction) in NFR had obtained two immovable properties, viz. benami flats, as alleged illegal gratification from the director of the private company,” Joshi said.

It was further alleged that the accused demanded a bribe of ₹ 2.10 crore from Jain in lieu of the flats for extending undue benefits to him in the past and promising such help in future, officials said.

The company allegedly had made partial payments in several installments in the past, they said.

The CBI got information that ₹ 15 lakh cash from the alleged bribery will be paid on Tuesday in Maligaon, Guwahati following which the raid was organised and Borah was nabbed in the process of receiving the money, they said

The Supreme Court Monday pulled up the Railways for not acting against encroachers on its land in Gujarat, where a railway line is scheduled to come up, and said they are not protecting their property.

Observing that it is the “statutory obligation” of the Railways to initiate action against the encroachers, the court said the “public project” has to go on and the authority should have taken action on this.

“The project has to go on. It is a public project. You are making mockery of your plans and budgeting arrangements. Remove those who are encroachers. There is law for removal. You are not invoking that law,” a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar said.

“It is your property and you are not protecting your property. And it is a statutory obligation on you to initiate action against encroachers,” the bench told Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K M Nataraj, representing the Railways.

The top court was hearing two separate petitions which have raised issues related to the removal of encroachment from Railways land in Gujarat and Haryana.

In the Gujarat matter, the petitioners had earlier told the top court that the state high court had vacated its July 23, 2014 interim order of status quo and permitted the Western Railways to go ahead with the Surat-Udhna up to Jalgaon third railway line project.

After the high court order, the petitioners moved the top court which granted status quo on the demolition of these ‘jhuggis’ in Gujarat.

The other plea relates to the demolition of ‘jhuggis’ near the railway tracks at Faridabad in Haryana.

In the Faridabad matter, the top court had earlier granted status quo on the demolition of structures of those, who have approached the court seeking stay of the eviction.

During the hearing on Monday, the ASG told the bench that Railways have no scheme for rehabilitation of those who are encroaching upon its land.

He referred to the ‘PM Awas Yojana’ which is subject to eligibility.

The ASG said the state will have to consider the aspect of rehabilitation.

The bench observed that the corporation, the state and the Railways should sit together and chalk out a plan and then inform the court about it.

“From the Railways point of view, all these people are unauthorised occupants and it is an offence,” the ASG said.

The bench observed, “Did you act upon it? Did you discharge your statutory obligation to remove them? Did you invoke the Public Premises Act? Did you invoke criminal action?”

Weddings in India are a grandiose affair with multiple functions and ceremonies. Food forms an integral part of such weddings, and, more often than not, families over-cater to ensure that their guests don’t go hungry. Thus, a lot of food is wasted in the process. In such a scenario, the sight of a woman dressed in her finery, sitting on a railway platform in Bengal, and offering leftover wedding food to the poor stands out. We have no idea if it’s some deeply-held principle about reducing waste or a goal to feed the homeless, but the woman’s effort has, nevertheless, been very inspiring.

Nilanjan Mondal, a wedding photographer, shared the moment on a wedding photographers’ page on Facebook. Mondal identified the woman as Papiya Kar, who was seen feeding the poor with leftover food from her brother’s wedding. This happened at around 1 am on December 5 at Ranaghat Junction, a Kolkata Suburban Railway station. We could see the woman wearing traditional wedding attire and serving the food on paper plates by herself in the photos. People of all ages had congregated at the platform where she was distributing food. There was Dal, Roti, Sabzi and rice among the dishes served.

Over 1,200 people had liked the Facebook post and many even commented on it. Some said that it wasn’t an isolated case and that Kar had, in the past, too, cooked meals and served them to the poor and needy. One of those commenting in Bengali appreciated the woman’s act of kindness and added that if everyone had a similar mindset, society would be a better place. There were other comments such as “great job”, “great work”, and “so proud of you”.

A few days ago, in another similar humanitarian deed, a 10-year-old girl Lyla, who used to sell cookies to raise funds for her leg treatment, got help from an Instagram user in the most unexpected way. The user, Charlie Rocket, shared a clip on Instagram, showing his interaction with the girl. When he asks the girl about her “dream”, she says, “I like to cook. I have made cookies today,”, and goes on to add that she was doing a fundraiser at her home for her leg treatment. Click here to watch the entire clip of Charlie interacting with the girl and find out how he decides to surprise her.

We look forward to more such small acts of kindness because they never cease to make us smile.

At least two wheels of the parcel van of Duranto Express jumped off the tracks at Haridaspur Railway Station in Odisha’s Jajpur district today, the East Coast Railway said.

“There is no report of any injury due to the incident,” it said.

“Two front wheels of high-capacity parcel van of 12246 Yasvantpur-Howrah Duranto Express has derailed while passing through Haridaspur Railway Station Yard at 11:14 hrs today. All passengers are safe,” East Coast Railway or ECoR said in a statement.

The incident will not affect the movement of train services of the Kharagpur-Bhubaneswar main line, it said.

“All passenger coaches will be connected with another engine. The restoration of the affected coaches will be done with immediate effect,” the statement added.

At least two wheels of the parcel van of Duranto Express jumped off the tracks at Haridaspur Railway Station in Odisha’s Jajpur district today, the East Coast Railway said.

“There is no report of any injury due to the incident,” it said.

“Two front wheels of high-capacity parcel van of 12246 Yasvantpur-Howrah Duranto Express has derailed while passing through Haridaspur Railway Station Yard at 11:14 hrs today. All passengers are safe,” East Coast Railway or ECoR said in a statement.

The incident will not affect the movement of train services of the Kharagpur-Bhubaneswar main line, it said.

“All passenger coaches will be connected with another engine. The restoration of the affected coaches will be done with immediate effect,” the statement added.