Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday termed the Railways’ decision to link the movement of goods trains in the state with the passenger ones “totally irrational and illogical”.

The Railways has declined to resume goods train services in Punjab, saying it would either operate both freight and passenger trains or none.

Amarinder Singh said there is absolutely no logic in linking the movement of goods and passenger trains, which the Railways are doing as a “patent excuse” to continue with the suspension of freight services.

Passengers wanting to come to Punjab can easily travel by train to stations in nearby states, such as Ambala in Haryana and Chandigarh, from where they can go by roads to their destinations in Punjab in a few hours, he said in a statement.

This was not an option for freight movement, he said, adding if the people of Punjab, including its farmers, continue to be deprived of their essential needs in this manner, the situation can aggravate.

The train services in Punjab have been suspended since September 24, when farmers started their “rail roko” agitation against the centre’s farm laws.

Mr Singh said by defending the railway authorities’ decision, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been further “fuelling the fire of anger” among farmers, who have shown more concern for the citizens than the party was doing.

Rejecting outright the BJP state unit president Ashwani Sharma’s allegation of Punjab “arm-twisting” the Centre, the CM said it is the BJP leadership which is “inciting” the farmers with its “anti-Punjab” stance on the issue

 

Instead of questioning the Railways and supporting the state government in persuading the Centre to allow freight trains to ply, the BJP leadership continue to indulge in “dirty politics” at the cost of the Punjab people’s welfare and those of neighbouring states, he alleged.

“What’s worse is that the BJP is not even concerned about our soldiers in Ladakh and Kashmir who are waiting desperately for critical supplies before the onset of snow, which would block them off completely from the rest of the country for the winter months,” he added.

On Mr Sharma’s accusation that the state government has failed to dissuade protestors from blocking train services, the CM said it is his government which convinced farmers to ease their blockade to let essential supplies come in.

Even now, several of his Cabinet colleagues are engaged with farmers’ bodies to push for the complete lifting of the blockade to allow even passenger movement, he said, adding it is in his government’s interest to do so, as it is responsible for the people of the state.

The chief minister said the adamant stand of the Railways, which the BJP was vehemently endorsing, suggested lack of intent to resolve the issue on the goods trains.

“Why else will the Railways be taking refuge in one excuse after another to continue to suspend the services in Punjab, especially after the farmers cleared all tracks for freight movement and he personally guaranteed full safety for the goods trains, even though the Railway security rested with the GRP?” he asked.

The Railways will run 696 suburban services in West Bengal from November 11, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday.

All such services had remained suspended since March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The approval to operate these services was given by the Railways after consultations with the state government, officials said.

“Railways to run 696 suburban services in West Bengal from 11th November.”

“With adequate safety measures in place, this will greatly enhance passenger convenience, ease of movement and facilitate smooth travel for the people,” Goyal said in a tweet.

Train services to Punjab will only be restored after the state government assures safety and security of railway property and personnel and clears the tracks of all agitators, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

He earlier met leaders of both the BJP and Congress in separate delegations, where they sought Mr Goyal’s intervention in resuming train services in the state saying the suspension was having an adverse effect on Punjab’s economy.

“The Railways is ready to begin operations in Punjab provided the state government gives us an assurance of safety of trains and clears tracks of protestors,” Mr Goyal said in a tweet.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, in a letter handed over to Mr Goyal personally by MPs, assured safety and security of railway property and personnel.

“The state government stands fully committed towards ensuring the safety and security of railway properties in Punjab. It is pertinent to mention that there has been no incident of arson or damage to rail property during the current farmers” agitation,” Amarinder Singh said in his letter.

“We will deploy adequate police and security personnel along with RPF during day and night to ensure full protection to railway personnel and property,” the CM said, urging the Railway minister to restore rail traffic in Punjab.

Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said Punjab government has given an assurance that all blockades on rail premises by protesters will be cleared by Friday.

Heated discussions marked a meeting between Congress Lok Sabha MPs from Punjab and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal over the restoration of train traffic in the state, with four of them staging a walkout over the minister’s remarks.

Sources said four of the eight Congress MPs — Gurpreet Singh Aujla, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Santokh Choudhary and Mohammed Sadique — walked out after tempers flared over Mr Goyal accusing the Congress government in Punjab of “provoking and aiding farmers” to protest against the Central government”s farm laws, that led to disruption of rail traffic.

The four Congress MPs who stayed back at the meeting were Preneet Kaur, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh and Jasbir Singh Gill.

The BJP delegation that met him included Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, party national general secretary Tarun Chug, spokesperson RP Singh and Punjab unit president Ashwani Sharma. In a letter to the railway minister, Mr Sharma alleged that the Congress government held Punjab “under siege” and was playing politics over the issue.

“We request immediate redressal by your august office to take a undertaking from the state government for security and protection to start goods and passenger trains with immediate effect. The common man is reeling under a great economic stress,” he said.

RRB NTPC exam will begin on December 15. Selection to the non-technical popular category (NTPC) posts in railways will be done by their recruitment boards (RRB). To appear in the exam candidates will be issued admit cards or hall tickets. RRB NTPC admit card can be expected soon. Candidates who have registered for the exam can download it from the official website of the RRBs using their application number and date of birth.

Selection to RRB NTPC posts will be through a series of exams and finally medical exam and verification of documents.

“To ascertain their eligibility as on the closing date for registration of the online application, candidates are required to produce all original documents with two sets of self-attested photocopies of all documents at the time of Document Verification,” RRBs have mentioned in the job notification.

Candidates who get shortlisted for the document verification process have to upload the scanned copies of the documents on the official website. “Further, these candidates should upload the scanned copies (in true color) of all the certificates as applicable prior to their document verification date through www.rrbdv.in portal,” the notification further adds.

RRBs have mentioned that the certificates that will be produced for verification should either be in Hindi or English. Where certificates are not in English or Hindi, self-attested translated version (In Hindi / English) should be produced, the boards have said.

In a bid to prevent crowding in local trains in Mumbai, railway authorities added 753 new special services from Monday, taking the total number of services on the suburban network to 2,773, officials said.

With this, the railway authorities have resumed 88 per cent of the total 3,141 suburban services which were being operated before the outbreak of COVID-19, they said.

During normal times before the lockdown, the Central Railway (CR) used to operate 1,772 services, while the Western Railway (WR) ran 1,367 services on the suburban network, they said.

The local trains, considered, as the lifeline of Mumbai, were resumed for the emergency and essential services staff in June this year.

To cater to the increasing crowd in suburban trains, the Central Railway has now added 552 more services on its routes, while the Western Railway has added 201 services, as per a joint press release issued by the CR and WR on Sunday.

With this, the special suburban services on the CR routes have increased to 1,572 from the earlier 1,020, while the WR services have gone up to 1,201 from 1,000.

Earlier, the Railways had decided to run 610 additional special suburban services from Sunday to avoid crowding in trains.

“The Railways is subsequently increasing suburban services keeping in view the social distancing norms and safety of public at large,” the release said.

Samajwadi party leaders and workers gathered at the party office in Gorakhpur this morning and demanded action against those responsible for it.

Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh:

The Samajwadi Party has objected to red and green tiles being used at a toilet at a railway hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and said it was an insult to its party flag bearing the same colours.

Samajwadi party leaders and workers gathered at the party office in Gorakhpur this morning and demanded action against those responsible for it.

Red and green tiles have been used in the toilet at Lalit Narayan Mishra Railway Hospital in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, a party leader said.

“We will not tolerate such insult to our party flag and we demand the railway administration change it and the district administration act against those behind it. The toilet was constructed 3-4 months ago, but it came into our notice on Wednesday,” SP district president Ram Nagina Sahini said.

Mr Sahini said they will take to the streets if their demands are not met.

Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) has filed papers with markets regulator Sebi to float an initial public offering of over 178 crore shares. The public offering will consist of a fresh issue of 118 crore equity shares and an offer for sale of 59.4 crore equity shares by the Government of India, according to an addendum to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with Sebi. IRPF has not specified the IPO size (in terms of value) and the IPO price, as of now.

IRFC had, in January, filed draft papers with Sebi for a fresh issue of 93.8 crore equity shares and an offer for sale of 46.9 crore equity shares by the central government. It has now, through the additional papers filed with the market regulator, increased the funding issue size.

Indian Railway Finance Corporation will utilise the net proceeds of the IPO to augment its equity capital base to meet future capital requirements arising out of business growth and general corporate purposes.

DAM Capital Market Advisors (formerly known as IDFC Securities), HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, ICICI Securities and SBI Capital Markets are the book running lead managers to the public issue.

IRFC is a finance arm of the Indian Railways. It is wholly owned by the Indian government, through the Ministry of Railways. It mobilises funds from domestic and overseas capital markets to finance the Railways’ expansion activities across the country.

Four out of the five railway companies in the country are already listed on the bourses. The listed entities are IRCON International Ltd, R

Passengers travelling from Delhi, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon will be the first to avail the soon-to-begin ‘Bags on Wheels’ service of the Railways. Through this, their luggage will be transported to their homes from the railway station upon their arrival in trains and vice versa.

The Northern Railways’ Delhi Division on Thursday announced the ‘App-Based Bags on Wheels’, a first of its kind service available for railway passengers in India. While the contract has been awarded, the services are expected to begin soon.

Initially, the firm to which the contract is awarded will provide its services for the passengers boarding trains from New Delhi, Delhi Jn., Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi Cantt., Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon railway stations, a statement from the Northern Railway said.

While officials said the cost of availing these services will be nominal, the price will depend on the distance to be covered as well as the weight and quantity of the luggage to be carried. “The service will enhance the scope of earning for Railways with straightaway Non-Fare Revenue of Rs 50 lakh per annum along with 10 per cent revenue sharing for the period of one year,” it said.

The firm will provide door-to-door service to railway passengers on a nominal fee for hassle-free and smooth handling and transportation of luggage from the passenger’s home to the passenger’s coach in the train and vice-versa.

Rajiv Chaudhry, General Manager Northern and North Central Railways said the Railways has been regularly striving to enhance its revenue through innovative ideas. “Working in the same direction, the Delhi division has recently achieved a milestone by awarding a new innovative contract under New Innovative Non-Fare Revenue Ideas Scheme (NINFRIS) for App-Based Bags-on-Wheels services. It would be the first of its kind service available for the railway passengers in India,” he said.

“Using BOW APP (will be available for Android & iPhone users), passengers will raise their demand for carrying their luggage to the railway station or to their home. Luggage will be picked up by the contractor in a secured manner and will be delivered to the coach/home as per booking preference of passenger,” he said.

The Northern Railways will hand over the reins of the Parliament canteen to India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) on November 15, bringing an end to its 52-year-old legacy of serving food to parliamentarians.

A letter from the Lok Sabha Secretariat has asked the Northern Railways, which has been serving food in the canteen since 1968, to pack up and move on from the parliament premises by November 15.

The ITDC, the government’s tourism arm, runs the luxury five-star The Ashok Group of Hotels.

“The competent authority has desired that the operations of the catering units in Parliament House Estate be taken over by ITDC 15.11 2020,” the letter stated.

“The Northern Railway may, accordingly, hand over the electronic gadgets viz. computers, printer etc. provided by the Lok Sabha Secretariat to ITDC and furniture items, equipment, gadgets etc. to CPWD for being handed over by them to ITDC,” it said.

The process to find a new vendor was started last year and in July this year, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel and officials of ITDC to discuss the issue.

Officials at ITDC said they have been instructed to keep special focus on the “quality of food” which should suit both “common people as well as dignitaries”.

At present, the canteen serves around 5,000 people during every session. There are 48 food items on its menu for lunch and evening snacks.

While matters relating to catering arrangements in the Parliament House Complex are typically decided by a joint committee on food management, in the 17th Lok Sabha, however, the food committee has not been constituted.

The final decision was taken by Speaker Om Birla, who has taken a personal interest in ensuring that better quality food is served in the canteen and that subsidies are ended.

An end to subsidies is expected to lead to annual savings of approximately ₹ 17 crore to parliament.

The Northern Railways will hand over the reins of the Parliament canteen to India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) on November 15, bringing an end to its 52-year-old legacy of serving food to parliamentarians.

A letter from the Lok Sabha Secretariat has asked the Northern Railways, which has been serving food in the canteen since 1968, to pack up and move on from the parliament premises by November 15.

The ITDC, the government’s tourism arm, runs the luxury five-star The Ashok Group of Hotels.

“The competent authority has desired that the operations of the catering units in Parliament House Estate be taken over by ITDC 15.11 2020,” the letter stated.

“The Northern Railway may, accordingly, hand over the electronic gadgets viz. computers, printer etc. provided by the Lok Sabha Secretariat to ITDC and furniture items, equipment, gadgets etc. to CPWD for being handed over by them to ITDC,” it said.

The process to find a new vendor was started last year and in July this year, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel and officials of ITDC to discuss the issue.

Officials at ITDC said they have been instructed to keep special focus on the “quality of food” which should suit both “common people as well as dignitaries”.

At present, the canteen serves around 5,000 people during every session. There are 48 food items on its menu for lunch and evening snacks.

While matters relating to catering arrangements in the Parliament House Complex are typically decided by a joint committee on food management, in the 17th Lok Sabha, however, the food committee has not been constituted.

The final decision was taken by Speaker Om Birla, who has taken a personal interest in ensuring that better quality food is served in the canteen and that subsidies are ended.

An end to subsidies is expected to lead to annual savings of approximately ₹ 17 crore to parliament.