Archives for July 2025

The railway ministry issued an official circular on Monday, increasing the fares of the non-air-conditioned class in mail and express trains by 1 paisa and all air-conditioned classes by 2 paise per kilometre from July 1.

Ministry officials had on June 24 hinted at the proposed fare revision.

However, the official circular with the fare table according to trains and class categories was released on Monday.

The fares of suburban trains and monthly season tickets have been left unchanged in the interest of daily commuters.

The ordinary second-class fare has not been increased for up to 500 km and for distances beyond that, there is an increase in the ticket prices by half a paisa per km.

The passengers of ordinary sleeper class and first class will also have to pay half a paisa more per km more from July 1.

“The fare revision also applies to premier and special train services, such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, Tejas, Humsafar, Amrit Bharat, Mahamana, Gatimaan, Antyodaya, Jan Shatabdi, Yuva Express, AC Vistadome coaches, Anubhuti coaches and ordinary non-suburban services, in accordance with the revised class-wise fare structure,” the ministry said in a press note.

“Revised fares will apply to tickets booked on or after 01.07.2025. Tickets issued before this date will remain valid at the existing fare without any fare adjustment. PRS, UTS and manual ticketing systems are being updated accordingly,” it added.

According to the ministry, there is no change in ancillary charges. For instance, the reservation fees, superfast surcharges and other charges have remained unchanged.

Similarly, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will continue to be charged in accordance with the applicable rules and the fare-rounding principles will remain as per the existing norms.

Sangareddy (Telangana): At least 12 people died and 34 persons were injured in a pharma plant explosion in this district on Monday, Telangana Minister Damodara Raja Narasimha said.

“As many as 12 people died and 34 people are under treatment. We are hopeful that there would be no more (deaths),” the health minister told reporters.

Labour Minister G Vivek Venkatswamy said: “Eight people died in the morning. Now, four bodies were found.”

Both the ministers visited the site.

The explosion took place at a reactor in the plant of Sigachi pharma company in the Pashamylaram industrial estate due to the suspected chemical reaction where fire also broke out.

Earlier, Inspector General of Police (Multizone) V Satyanarayana, quoting factory sources, said there were 150 people in the factory at the time of the blast. Ninety persons were in the same area where the explosion occurred.

He said the explosion occurred between 9.28 am and 9.35 am. The management immediately reached out to the local police who in turn alerted the fire department.

About ten fire fighting engines were pressed into service, he further said, adding the personnel of NDRF and SDRF were also engaged in the rescue operation.

The fire was brought under control, he added.

Asked how many workers were working at the time of the tragedy, he said effort was on to ascertain the exact figure as the person who maintains record of the workers’ details is believed to have died.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the fire tragedy and conveyed condolences to those who lost their loved ones in the incident. He wished an early recovery to the injured.

In a post on ‘X’, he announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy expressed anguish over the incident and directed officials to take all steps to save the trapped workers and provide them advanced medical care, an official release said.

Sigachi Industries Limited is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to pioneering advancements in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Intermediates, Excipients, vitamin-mineral blends, and Operations and Management (O&M) services, according to the company’s website.

There was no immediate reaction from the company.

Prayagraj: Police have arrested around 50 supporters of Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad for resorting to vandalism on Sunday.

The angry supporters of the MP, who was stopped by police on Sunday while on his way to meet the family of a person who died of burn injuries at Isota village in Prayagraj, had created a ruckus and damaged two police vehicles.

The family of the deceased, Devishankar, had claimed that he was burnt to death after he succumbed on April 13.

Chandrashekhar had reached the Circuit House, but was stopped by police due to “security reasons”, according to police.

According to Yamuna Nagar Deputy Commissioner of Police Vivek Chandra Yadav, 50 people accused of stone pelting and vandalism near Isota village have been arrested so far and the rest are being identified. Cases are being registered against these people under stringent sections.

DCP Yadav said that charges under National Security Act will be imposed on these people and the cost of damage will also be recovered.

Yadav said party workers gathered in large numbers following the information about Chandrashekhar’s visit to Isota village in Karchana tehsil on Sunday. They started pelting stones after coming to know that the leader would not be coming.

The dial 112 vehicle and another vehicle were damaged by the mob, he said.

Randeep Singh Surjewala

Bengaluru: Amid growing dissent within the ruling party, the Congress High Command has decided to intervene directly to address discontent among its legislators. Party General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala is scheduled to arrive in Bengaluru on Monday to hold one-on-one discussions with Congress MLAs.

This development comes just days after the state government completed two years in office. Several legislators and ministers have recently raised concerns over issues such as power-sharing, centralization of decision-making, the so-called “September Revolution,” and even the possibility of a change in leadership — all of which have caused significant embarrassment to both the government and the party.

Earlier, during Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s recent visit to New Delhi, senior party leaders had reportedly advised him to rein in lawmakers from making statements that could damage the party’s image. However, the continued airing of grievances in public has prompted the High Command to take more decisive action.

Surjewala’s office has directly contacted the MLAs and shared his meeting schedule. Dissatisfied legislators are expected to present their concerns and complaints during these individual sessions.

Among those likely to meet Surjewala are senior MLA B.R. Patil, who alleged that housing department benefits were being given only to those who paid bribes; Raju Kage, who raised the issue of lack of development funds; and N.Y. Gopalakrishna, along with several other disgruntled lawmakers.

Hyderabad:14 people suffered injuries in a suspected explosion in a pharma plant in neighbouring Sangareddy district of Telangana on Monday, police said.

A police official said 14 injured people were rescued and they were shifted to hospitals.

The rescue operation was in progress and their condition was not known immediately, he said.

Fire tenders were rushed to douse the fire.

Asked if it was an explosion, the official said it “looks like” one.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday junked a plea filed by former cricket administrator Lalit Modi seeking an order to the BCCI to pay a penalty of Rs 10.65 crore imposed on him by the ED for violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan, however, said Modi will be entitled to avail civil remedies as available according to law.

The Bombay High Court on December 19 last year had imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on Modi while dismissing his petition seeking an order to the BCCI to pay a penalty of Rs 10.65 crore imposed on him by the Enforcement Directorate for violating FEMA.

The high court had said the petition was “frivolous and wholly misconceived” as the adjudication authority under FEMA has imposed the penalty on Modi.

Modi, in his plea, said he was appointed as vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, during which period he was also the chairman of the Indian Premier League governing body, a subcommittee of the BCCI.

The plea claimed that the BCCI is supposed to indemnify him as per the bylaws.

The HC bench, however, referred to a Supreme Court judgment of 2005, which said the BCCI does not fall under the definition of a ‘state’ as defined under Article 12 of the Constitution.

Despite clear orders from the apex court, Modi filed this petition in 2018, the HC bench noted.

“In matters of alleged indemnification of the petitioner (Modi) in the context of penalties imposed upon the petitioner by the ED, there is no question of discharge of any public function, and therefore, for this purpose, no writ could be issued to the BCCI,” the HC had said.

“In any event, the reliefs are wholly misconceived. This petition is frivolous, and accordingly, we dismiss this petition,” the court had said and directed Modi to pay a sum of Rs 1 lakh to the Tata Memorial Hospital within four weeks.