Tamil Nadu: Three constables allegedly robbed a labourer at the Chennai Central railway station last night and threatened to foist a theft case if he spoke about it. The Tamil Nadu railway police have today arrested the trio.

According to a senior Railway Police officer, the three constables — J Irudhayaraj, J Aruldhoss and S Ramakrishna — attached to the Tamil Nadu special police targeted a migrant labourer who was sleeping in the waiting area of the station. He was to board the train to Kerala in the morning.

Investigators say the constables took the man to an isolated spot with no CCTV cameras. They took away his purse containing Rs. 1,800, a new cellphone worth Rs. 16,000 and his watch. When the man pleaded with them, they gave him Rs. 300 for travel and food and left.

The man was scared to report the matter to the police. However, a few autorickshaw drivers who had witnessed the incident took him to the police station and the man filed a complaint

A senior officer said, “We have strong evidence. We have registered a case of robbery and extortion. If convicted they would be sent to jail for 10 years.”

Indian Railways has introduced new facilities to book Tatkal tickets through IRCTC’s website. Under “buy rail tickets now and pay later” scheme, a customer has the option to pay within 14 days of booking an e-ticket through the IRCTC website – irctc.co.in. This facility is also available for booking Tatkal tickets. Under the online Tatkal booking facility, customers can go to the IRCTC website and book tickets on a first come, first served basis by paying Tatkal charges. IRCTC processes 1,30,000 Tatkal transactions daily. A majority of these tickets is booked within minutes of the quota opening.

10 Things To Know About Tatkal Reservation:

1) The new facility, called ‘ePaylater’, is powered by M/s Arthashastra Fintech Pvt Ltd as a pilot project.

2) The service charge levied on use of the ‘ePaylater’ scheme is 3.50 per cent of transaction amount and applicable taxes. To make people aware about the availability of this method, an option of ‘ePaylater’ is displayed at the payment page of the IRCTC website

3) You will receive the payment link through email and SMS on making a booking and will get up to 14 days to make the payment, according to the IRCTC website.

4) “Please note that failure to make payment within 14 days will lead to levy of penal interest at the rate of 36 per annum and may also lead to cancellation of your ticket and/or user account deactivation,” the IRCTC website added.

5) In another Pay-On-Delivery option – powered by Anduril Technologies – for tatkal tickets, IRCTC users will be able to pay via cash, debit card or credit card by opting to have tickets delivered at their doorstep.

6) “The pay on delivery feature circumvents the use of a payment gateway and will help users make the bookings in just a few seconds greatly increasing their chance of booking a confirmed ticket under the Tatkal quota,” said Anduril Technologies CEO Anurag Bajpai.

7) Refusal on part of the customer to pay for the ticket shall amount to its cancellation and the customer shall be liable to pay for the cancellation charges, failure of which shall invite strict action as per law and user account will be deactivated, the IRCTC website said. Transaction charges for this facility range from Rs. 90 to Rs. 120 plus applicable taxes for transaction.

8) If you opt for the ‘Book Now, Pay Later’ option – powered by Anduril Technologies – via the IRCTC website, you will be led to a page which states: “In case, if the travel is within next 24 hrs, you are requested to pay online through payment link forwarded to the email given at the time of booking. Door step payment collection will be attempted within next 24-72 hours. In case of non-payment before the travel date, the ticket will be cancelled and the user will be liable to pay the cancellation charges.” After that you need to fill in the details.
9) After reports on social media and some websites that Tatkal booking rules will change from July 1, 2017, the Railways had issued a clarification, saying that there had been no changes. “It has been noticed that a news item is in circulation in various social media platforms, WhatsApp groups, and some websites which mentions that Indian Railways is introducing several changes and new facilities with effect from 1st July, 2017. This news is totally incorrect and baseless,” it had said in a statement recently.

10) The booking timings for Tatkal tickets were last changed in 2015 with booking for AC classes opening at 10:00 am and for non-AC classes at 11:00 am (one day in advance of actual date of journey excluding date of journey). There has no change in these timings and the same arrangement is continuing, the Railways added.

In a raid conducted jointly by anti-terror agencies and Railway Police, suspected explosive materials and detonators have been found in the Kausa area of Mumbra in Thane district. Nine detonators have also been seized in the raid. The police have ruled out any terror angle in the case though after an investigation.

The police say the arrested trio has criminal records. One of the accused, Mahinsa Ganur, had a dispute with a man called Ismail Shaikh and to trap Shaikh the accused wanted to plant the explosives and detonators under a car parked at his premises. Shaikh has a business and deals with old cars. The explosives were acquired by the accused trio from a place called Reti Bunder in Dombivli suburb of Thane.

According to the police, one of the accused Shah Alam Sheikh, a Railway Police Force informer, actually tipped off the police about the explosives and detonators after hatching the conspiracy. The Railway Police got in touch with the Thane Police and the Anti-Terror Squad. But after the recovery the police questioned Shah Alam and during questioning he revealed the details of the plot. Shah Alam had also told the police about the presence of RDX but when no RDX was found the police got suspicious about the whole thing, a source said.

The explosives are used in nearby stone quarries and the accused hatched the plot as they wanted to blackmail Ismail Shaikh and get some money, police said.

According to sources, the raids were conducted after surveillance and intelligence tip offs that were worked upon by the Crime Branch, Railway Police and the Maharashtra ATS. The police believe the tip offs were provided by the accused to make it look like a terror plot.

The police say the explosive material recovered is ammonium nitrate which is used to cause explosions and could be also used to make IEDs that have been used in several terror attacks in Mumbai – which is why they are now investigating as to how the accused could procure the explosives and detonators without being detected.

In a tragic incident, a 45-year-old man was killed after being run over by a train in which he was travelling to Haryana to meet his sister on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, police said today.

Rajinder Kumar, a resident of Jalandhar, accidentally fell from the train and came under it at a local railway station in the district last night, a Government Railway Police (GRP) official said.

Mr Kumar was travelling to Panipat in Haryana to get rakhi tied on his wrist from his sister. He got down at the station to buy something when the train started moving, the official said.

As he rushed to get on the train, Mr Kumar lost balance and fell between the platform and the train, which ran over him.

His body was handed over to his family after post-mortem examination, the railway police said.

Days ahead of Independence Day, anti-terror agencies and the Railway Police have recovered a huge reserve of suspected explosive material and detonators in Thane’s Mumbra area. Three suspects have been arrested in the case, police said.

According to sources, the raids were conducted after surveillance and intelligence input was received by the Crime Branch, Railway Police and the Maharashtra ATS. The police have seized 15 kg ammonium nitrate and nine detonators in the raids.

Ammonium nitrate is used to make improvised explosive devices (IED) that have been used to cause explosions in several terror attacks in Mumbai.

The Thane Police is expected to reveal more details later this evening.

The top conservation body UNESCO has cautioned that the damage caused to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway or DHR due to the protest to demand a separate Gorkhaland state may put in peril the World Heritage Site tag it earned in 1999. Two stations, Gayabari and Sonada, were torched while an arson attempt was made on Elysia Building, the headquarters of the DHR, during the strike that entered the 54th day today.

Indian Railways and UNESCO are working on a plan for the DHR, work on which had begun in mid-2016. An office to implement the plan was set up comprising a team of experts at Kurseong
Station, which was built in 1896, and falls midway on the 88-kilometre-long narrow-gauge railway network between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling.

The agitation in Darjeeling and nearby areas has stopped the project in the hill town and UNESCO has opened a temporary office for it at its headquarters in New Delhi. “Around June 8, the stir began in Darjeeling and we continued for a few days but finally, the situation became difficult and on June 12, we closed our project office in Kurseong,” Ms Chiba said.

“We evacuated our staff and asked them to go back to their hometowns and work from there and later set up an office at the UNESCO office in Chanakyapuri,” she said. “As soon as the area is made accessible, our team will visit Darjeeling to assess the extent of damage caused to this World Heritage site”.

Delhi-based conservation architect Aishwarya Tipnis, who is a member of the renovation

team, said DHR was inscribed in the UNESCO list 20 years ago, and it is “Asia’s first industrial heritage site to earn the coveted tag”.

“DHR is a complex cultural landscape, which impacts the everyday life of a large population. And, the unfortunate events of deliberate damage caused by arson attacks on Sonada, Gayabari stations and Elysia brings to light an important question regarding the protection of World Heritage sites in conflict situations in our country,” Mr Tipnis said.

After DHR, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Kalka-Shimla Railway were given the UNESCO tag, and the three have been collectively designated as the Mountain Railways of India.

The only other railway property which enjoys the World Heritage Site status in India is Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) station in Mumbai.

“The objective of the conservation project is to provide a framework for management of the World Heritage Site with the stakeholders – the railways, local administration, civic bodies,

NGOs, tour operators – and people in general and an idea to collaboratively work towards its preservation and development by defining roles and responsibilities,” Mr Tipnis said.

According to the architect, if the DHR model of preservation goes as it is being planned, it will become a “yardstick of conservation” for various other projects in the field.

Five persons were run over by a speeding train at Sawimadhopur Railway Station in Rajasthan today. Two others were injured in the incident, railway police said.

The victims were passengers of the Jaipur-Bayana Express which halted at platform no. 1 in Sawimadhopur station.

Few passengers got down from the train on the railway track side instead of the platform side and were run over by the Gandhidham-Howrah superfast express which was passing at a high speed from the station, the SHO of GRP Railway station Kishanlal said.

Four of the five deceased were identified as Kamal (19), Nitesh (14), Man Singh and Mukesh (both 35), he said.

Railway users have welcomed the approval given by the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) for electrification-cum-doubling works between Madurai-Kanyakumari-Thiruvananthapuram and urged the railway ministry to complete the works without any delay.

According to a statement from railways, the CCEA chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the construction of double line with electrification between Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari, Madurai-Vanchi Maniyachi, Vanchi Maniyachi-Turicorin and Vanchi Maniyachi-Nagercoil via Tirunelveli. The projects are likely to be completed in four years by 2020 – 21.

The total length of Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari line is 86.56 km. The estimated cost of the project will be Rs.1431.90 crore and completion cost Rs.1552.94 crore with 5% escalation per annum. The total length of Madurai – Vanchi Maniyachi, Vanchi Maniyachi-Tuticorin lines will be 160 kms. The estimated cost of the project will be Rs 1,182.31 crore and completion cost Rs.1,272.51 crore with 5% escalation per annum. The total length of Vanchi Maniyachi-Nagercoil via Tirunelveli line will be 102 km. The estimated cost of the project will be Rs.1,003.94 crore and completion cost Rs.1,114.62 crore with 5% escalation per annum.

Kanyakumari District Rail Users Association (KKDRUA) observed that the line from Chennai to Kanyakumari was like a backbone of the state from which other railway lines were branching out. After so much of persuasion, Chennai- Madurai line was going to be doubled and Madurai- Kanyakumari yet to be doubled. With the existing single line, not many trains could be operated from southern Tamil Nadu to Chennai in spite of repeated demands from rail users of the region, the association observed.

President of KKDRUA, S R Sriram said that doubling of Madurai- Kanyakumari was a long pending dream of people of southern Tamil Nadu. He expressed his gratitude to Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan for making efforts for the materialisation of the project. President of Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association Limited and former member of Madurai Divisional Rail User Consultative Committee, S P Jeyapragasam pointed out that the 46-km stretch between Madurai and Virudhunagar should be doubled in first phase because the stretch was under enormous pressure of train traffic converging from three directions at Virudhunagar.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation Wing) to conduct a detailed inquiry into a complaint filed by one R.C.Cyril Thiagaraj against the Railway Employees Cooperative Credit Society Ltd (RECCS).

In the order passed by information commissioner Bimal Julka on May 29, the commission noted that Thiagaraj submitted a complaint to the income tax department in July 2015.

In the complaint, he alleged that employees of the society were paid salaries in violation of the Income Tax Act and Rules. Loans to members of the society had been paid in cash instead of crediting in their bank account, the complaint said.

Thiagaraj filed a Right to Information (RTI) petition regarding the action taken on the complaint, for which the IT department did not give a reply even after the first appeal was filed.

In the order, Julka stated that the income tax department submitted that IT assessment relating to the society for 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2014-15 were pending for completion when the complaint was sent. The assessment was completed only on December 29, 2016 and the IT department said that clarifications were given. However, the Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the income tax department did not appear for the hearing to clarify the submissions made by Thiagaraj, Julka noted in the order.

Considering the facts in the case, the CIC has directed the director general of income tax to submit an inquiry report within 30 days in accordance with the RTI Act, 2005.

Ministry of Railways has sanctioned Solar Power System on 24 Coaches of DEMU trains and has approved similar provisions with flexible solar panels on 250 more coaches.

Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain stated this on 2 August in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

He said that the Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) Broad Gauge Train with Solar Power generation on roof top of its coaches has been dedicated to the nation by the Minister of Railways on  14 July 2017. This train has been inducted in the link of Train Number 740033 between Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Garhi Harsaru-Farukhnagar in Northern Railway.

The details of reduction in Carbon Emission and fuel saving shall be known after running this train for a period of one year, Minister said in his reply.

Replying to one another question, the Minister stated that during the last three years, a total of 62,773 candidates have been empanelled for various categories of Group ‘C’ posts by all the 21 RRBs.

Indian Railways, an organization having pan India character, presently has 21 Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) across the country for catering to the recruitment requirements of various categories of Group ‘C’ posts of Zonal Railway(s)/ Production Unit(s).

Replying to the questions the Minister Gahain said that, “No preference/relaxation is given to candidates belonging to any region. The RRBs have been established based on territorial jurisdiction of the Indian railways and not on the basis of State(s), Zone(s) / Region(s). Candidates are free to apply to any RRB throughout the country in response to the advertisements; RRBs do not make any distinction on the basis of State(s), Region(s) / Area(s) / Locality, Caste(s), Gender(s) or Creed(s).”