Seven men have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old girl in Maharashtra’s Pune, the police said today.

The girl has been admitted to a hospital and is undergoing treatment.

The incident happened on the night of August 31, when the girl was waiting for a friend at the Pune Railway Station and an auto-rickshaw driver spotted her.

After the girl’s friend failed to turn up, the driver allegedly offered her a ride home, saying it was late in the evening. He then called some of his friends to accompany them, the police said.

The accused then drove around the city, gang-raping her at multiple locations. They later forced her to board a Mumbai-bound bus.

After a missing persons case was filed at Wanwadi police station by the girl’s father, the cops started looking for her, deputy commissioner of police in Pune Namrata Patil said.

“We found her in Pune and after recording her statement, we arrested the accused. She is stable now,” the official added.

“During the investigation of the missing person complaint, we traced the girl on Sunday. The girl told the police that she was abducted and raped,” Wanwadi police station senior inspector Deepak Lagad told news agency PTI.

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The police are also looking for some of the other accused involved in the case, officials said.

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A case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and further investigation is on, the police said.

Indian Railways invited bids for the establishment and maintenance of a ”Rail Arcade” at the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) railway station of Bengaluru and the Chandigarh railway station for a period of nine years. The aim of the initiative is to offer world-class passenger-centric amenities and enhance the travel experience, according to a statement shared by the national transporter’s statutory body Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC).

The rail arcade to be built at the stations is expected to be a mini-city centre offering food and beverage, entertainment, leisure, as well as retail facilities for passengers. This is a part of the railway statutory body’s overall mandate to undertake the complete facility management of five railway stations across the national transporter’s network – including Bengaluru, Pune, Anand Vihar, Chandigarh, and Secunderabad.

”It will enable passengers to utilize their mundane waiting time and turn it into leisure hours, and they will look forward to visiting these stations. As an integrated facility, Rail Arcade will fuel commercial activities and will be a formidable step in transforming railway stations into a RAILOPOLIS- an integrated mini smart city to ‘Work, Play and Ride’,” said Mr S.K. Lohia, Managing Director, and CEO, IRSDC.

At the upcoming Rail Arcade, some of the proposed facilities include Food & Beverage (F&B), gifts stores, books and magazines, handloom and artifacts, consumer goods kiosks, including pharmaceutical stores.

Comments The concessionaire will be responsible to take over the identified space and undertake the remodeling of the entire area for the development of commercial, leisure, and entertainment space at the railway stations, according to IRSDC.

The Southern Railway on Thursday announced further relaxations of restrictions for travelling public in the suburban trains, with immediate effect.

All types of tickets will be issued to all category of travelling public including students, an official release said.

“The general male category that was earlier restricted to travel during peak hours (7 am to 9.30 am and 4.30 pm to 7 pm) is now permitted to travel if they produce a two dose covid vaccination certificate along with any ID card to prove their identity at the time of purchasing tickets. They will be issued with all tickets (single/return), including season tickets,” it said.

Moreover, for male passengers, excluding students, without authorisation letter/ID card from their workplace and who do not produce the two doses vaccination certificate, the restriction to travel during peak hours will continue.

During non-peak hours they will be issued single journey tickets only, the release added.

Freight loading for Indian Railways during August 2021 touched 110.55 million tonnes, which was 16.8 per cent higher than that of the corresponding last year, when it had reached 94.5 million tonnes.

The railway ministry also earned ₹ 10,866 crore from freight loading during the month, which was 20 per cent more than ₹ 9,043 crore of August 2020.

Official sources said that Indian Railways managed record freight loading during August 2021 despite difficulties being faced due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The important commodities transported during August 2021 included 47.94 million tonnes of coal, 13.53 million tonnes of iron ore, 5.77 million tonnes of pig iron and finished steel, 6.88 million tonnes of food grains, 4.16 million tonnes of fertilisers, 3.60 million tonnes of mineral oil, 6.3 million tonnes of cement (excluding clinker) and 4.51 million tonnes of clinker.

An express train mowed down three migrant labourers from Bihar in Odisha’s Ganjam district while they were walking on the tracks to reach a railway station to return home, a GRP official said on Monday.

The incident took place near a level crossing in Haladiapadar area on the outskirts of Berhampur town, he said.

Around 7-8 migrant workers were walking on the tracks to reach Brahmapur railway station on Sunday night when three of them were mowed down by the Visakhapatnam-Tatanagar Express, while the remaining labourers received minor injuries, he said.

The labourers were working in a local firm and were returning to their home state, the official said, adding that the three persons died on the spot and their identities are yet to be ascertained.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on Thursday said it will introduce Vistadome tourist special trains on two popular routes – Guwahati-New Haflong in Assam and New Jalpaiguri-Alipurduar Junction in West Bengal from Saturday.

The first train in northeast India fitted with special Vistadome coaches will leave Guwahati station on Saturday for New Haflong Railway Station and will travel through the scenic Dima Hasao district.

This is the third train in the nation, second within the Northeast Frontier Railway, to have the recently launched coaches that provide a 360 degree view of the open sky, mountains, hills and lush green forests to the tourists.

“Introduction of Vistadome trains is meant to help tourists experience the scenic beauty and to display the cultural heritage of the region during the unique journey. The joint effort with the tourism department will help to boost the tourism sector and as well as the local economy,” said Anshul Gupta, General Manager of NF Railway, in Guwahati.

The Vistadome coaches are equipped with state of the art glass windows and all glass roofs and provide a 360 degree view. It also has observation lounges for the purpose of site seeing. The rotational seats of the coach are designed to provide added comfort to passengers. Coaches are also provided with digital entertainment system and Wi-Fi facilities. For safety of passenger, CCTV cameras and fire alarm system are also installed.

Mr Gupta said the train ticket will cost ₹ 1,150.
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Initially, the train will travel twice a week – Wednesday and Saturday – from Guwahati at 6.35 in the morning and reach New Haflong at 11.55 am covering a distance of 269 km. It will have only two stoppages at Manderdisa and Maibong stations.

On return journey, the train will leave New Haflong at 5 pm and reach Guwahati at 10.45 pm.

In Bengal, the train will leave New Jalpaiguri at 7:20 am and will reach Alipurduar Jn at 1 pm covering a distance of 169 km through the Dooars Hill region. During return journey, the train will leave Alipurduar Jn at 2pm to reach New Jalpaiguri at 7pm.

 

It will have stoppages at Siliguri Jn, Sivok, New Mal Jn, Chalsa, Madarihat, Hasimara and Raja Bhat Khawa stations.

The Supreme Court Wednesday extended till September 1 its interim order directing the authorities to maintain status quo on the demolition of around 5,000 ‘jhuggis’ (slums) in Gujarat for a Railway line project.

A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana had on Tuesday ordered status quo till August 25 after the matter was mentioned before it for urgent listing.

The matter came up for hearing on Wednesday before a bench comprising justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj told the bench that he is in the process of seeking instruction from the authority and the matter may be taken up after two days.

He said the interim order passed in the matter may continue in the meantime.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who also appeared in the matter, said he was making the same request.

“As requested by the Solicitor General, list the matter on September 1,” the bench said, adding, “Interim order to continue till then”.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, had yesterday mentioned the matter for urgent listing and told the top court that in compliance with the Gujarat High Court’s August 19 order, the authorities were going to start the demolition work on Tuesday itself and evict over 10,000 slum dwellers.

The bench, while ordering status quo, had directed that the matter be listed before an appropriate bench on Wednesday.

Mr Gonsalves had told the bench that the 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.

The plea, filed by Surat-based ‘Utran se Besthan Railway Jhopadpatti Vikas Mandal’, has said that “irreparable injury” would be caused to the slum dwellers, who are residing on the Railway land, if they are not provided with alternate arrangement and once they would be evicted and made homeless, their condition would become more miserable especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The petition, filed through advocate Satya Mitra, has sought stay on the demolition of these ‘jhuggis’ claiming that no breathing time has been given to the slum dwellers and authorities have been forcing them to vacate within 24 hours.

It has also sought direction to the authorities, including the Centre and Gujarat government, to rehabilitate the concerned slum dwellers.

It has sought a direction to the Gujarat government to rehabilitate all those families, which the Western Railways proposes to evict, under the existing state rehabilitation scheme within stipulated time frame.

It said the Western Railways be directed to formulate a rehabilitation policy for slum dwellers of the proposed site within stipulated time frame.

It has also sought to declare the Gujarat slum rehabilitation policy as “discriminatory, arbitrary and unconstitutional” claiming that it does not include slum dwellers residing on the Railway land.

“The impugned order dated August 19, 2021 violates the various judgments laid down by the Supreme Court of India in which the court has held Right to Housing as an important ingredient of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and has emphasized on the rehabilitation of the slum dwellers,” said the plea while challenging the high court order.

It alleged that the order of demolition, without providing rehabilitation scheme for over 10,000 slum dwellers, is “illegal, inhuman” and violates Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution.

It said the petition has been filed for and on behalf of around 10,000 slum dwellers who are living near the Railway lines in the city of Surat.

“They have been residing on Railway land for more than 60 years now. Most of them have proof of residence with them. Most of the residents have their Voter ID cards and Ration cards as proof of identity with them. The slum settlements that would be demolished between Utran to Besthan are 21 in number,” it said.

The plea said the high court, in an order passed in March 2016 in the case, had said that unless a suitable and effective rehabilitation scheme of slum dwellers is framed by the Railway administration it is not possible to permit the demolition to take place
“The High Court has been asking the Western Railway to come up with the rehabilitation policy for the said site since 2016. Even after five years have passed, the Railway authorities did not come up with any rehabilitation plan for the same,” it alleged.

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It said slum dwellers, whose ‘jhuggis’ are on the municipal corporation land, are eligible for rehabilitation and are protected from eviction without rehabilitation but unfortunately, those who are on the Railway land are not covered under the Gujarat Slum Rehabilitation Policy, 2013.

Union minister Raosaheb Danve on Sunday said the Railways has suffered losses to the tune of ₹ 36,000 crore during the coronavirus pandemic, and termed goods trains as the real revenue generators for the national transporter.

He also said that a bullet train project would be executed along the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, which is under construction at present.

The Minister of State for Railways was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of an underbridge at the Jalna railway station.

“The passenger train segment always runs into losses. Since increasing the ticket fares affects the passengers, we cannot do so. During the pandemic, the Railways suffered losses of ₹ 36,000 crore,” he said.

“Only goods trains generate revenue. During the pandemic, these trains played an important role in carrying goods and providing relief to people,” the minister added.

Speaking about bullet train, he said this project would be rolled out along the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway as it is necessary for people.

The Railways has undertaken the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor project, which will connect Navi Mumbai to Delhi, Danve said.

He assured doubling of tracks between Nanded and Manmad stations, and said he would check if the Jalna-Khamgaon railway line was viable or not.

Hitting out at his detractors, Danve said he was being attacked from all quarters. “But I become stronger after facing criticism,” he said.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope, who was also present at the event, said the state government has sanctioned a hospital in Jalna for treatment of those suffering from mental illnesses. He said the facility would benefit the Marathwada region.

The Indian Railways has started the process for updating the bank details of RRB NTPC candidates for refund of examination fees. According to a notification released by the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), one of the hiring arms of the Indian Railways, the link for updating the account details of the candidates who had appeared for the Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) first tier exam will be activated from 10.00 am, August 11. The RRB NTPC examinations were held in 7 phases in 2020 and 2021. Last phase of the RRB NTPC recruitment examination was delayed due to the restrictions announced after Covid-19 cases spiked in the country.

The links are provided on the official websites of the RRBs that includes RRB Chennai, RRB Mumbai, RRB Bangalore, RRB Kolkata and RRB Chandigarh.

The “Update Bank Account Link” will be available till August 31.

The RRB NTPC notification has also said SMS and email will also be sent to the candidates who had attended the Computer Based Test or CBT-1 held from December 28, 2020 to July 31, 2021 in seven phases to their registered email id and mobile number to provide their correct bank account details.

One help menu will be provided to get any clarification or help in case of any trouble while submitting the bank details, it said.

A total of 1.26 crore candidates had registered for the RRB NTPC exam which is being held to fill 35,208 vacancies in various NTPC posts of Indian Railways which are Junior Clerk cum Typist, Junior Time Keeper, Accounts Clerk cum Typist, Senior Clerk cum Typist, Junior Account Assistant cum Typist, Senior Time Keeper and other posts.

The RRBs had notified earlier that the candidates who appear for the recruitment exam are entitled to get the refund of their examination fee (which was ₹ 250 for SC, ST, ExSM, PwBD, female, minority, EBC and transgender candidates, and ₹ 400 for others), after deduction of banking or service charges as applicable.

1 Comments Candidates would need their registration details to login to the RRB NTPC application page.

Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) announced its April-Juen quarter results for the financial year 2021-22, reporting a net profit of ₹ 1,501.95 crore, compared to Rs 891.81 crore for the corresponding quarter in the last year. The net profit of the Railway Ministry’s wholly-owned subsidiary increased 68.42 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The company’s revenue from operations in the June quarter stood at Rs 4581.61 crore, compared to Rs 3669.22 crore in the corresponding period last year, registering a growth of 24.87 per cent year-on-year, according to a regulatory filing by the firm to the stock exchanges.

By the end of the April-Juen quarter, IRFC’s net worth stood at Rs. 37,416.50 crore, compared to ₹ 31,192.96 crore, marking an increase of 19.95 per cent year-on-year. The net profit of the public-sector enterprise in the preceding January-March quarter of the financial year 2020-21 stood at Rs 1,483 crore, while revenue from operations came in at Rs 15,770 crore.

“The investment outlay by Indian Railways has been the main driver of growth at IRFC, as a significant portion of the funding requirement is to be met through IRFC,” said Amitabh Banerjee, Chairman, and Managing Director, IRFC