Initial operations of Doha Metro’s Red Line connecting 13 stations from al-Qassar to al-Wakrah get under way.

Doha, Qatar – Six years in the making, Qatar’s first-ever underground railway system has opened to the public, as the Gulf nation prepares to host the 2022 football World Cup.

The Doha Metro Red Line started partial operations on Wednesday, running along the coast from al-Qassar district in the capital, Doha, to the southern city of al-Wakrah.

The country is aiming to run 75 trains, install 37 stations and two more lines – Green and Gold – by the year 2020.

“This is one of the mega projects of Qatar and it’s not only a project that is opening, it is a new way for transportation all over the country,” Abdulla Al-Mawlawi, public relations and communications director at Qatar Rail, told Al Jazeera.

“It will welcome all the nationals, tourists and … expatriates who are living in Qatar,” he added.

Travelling at a speed of 80 to 100 kilometres per hour, the state-of-the-art trains imported from Japan are divided into three compartments – standard class, family section and Gold Club.

Each train, seating 130 people, has a total occupancy of almost 416, Mawlawi said. The total travel time from al-Qassar to al-Wakrah is approximately 35 minutes.

There was an air of excitement at the metro stations in the capital on Wednesday morning as the city’s residents queued to purchase their tickets and ride the metro for the first time.

Franck Gellet, the French ambassador to Qatar, was among the first few passengers riding the train southwards to al-Wakrah.

A single journey in the standard compartment costs 2 riyals, while a ride in the Gold Club section costs 10 riyals.

“It’s an amazing moment to start this metro and to be one of the passengers to be in this train from the first day,” said Abdul Rahman Al Mahmoud, a 48-year-old Qatari national.

At the West Bay station, in Doha’s business district populated by its tallest skyscrapers, a crowd of eager of commuters boarded the train heading to al-Wakrah.

Sandeep Kolli from India and his colleagues from the Japanese manufacturing company Mitsubishi, one of the major subcontractors of the Qatar Rail project, were among them.

“This opening is very special particularly for me because I’m the one who off-loaded all these trains right from Japan, so I know particularly each and every train,” the 35-year-old lifting engineer said.

“It’s a landmark for Qatar,” a beaming Kolli added.

Many said they would use public transport on a daily basis to avoid congestion on the roads and save money.

“Being able to have this metro, it will really transform the transportation system in and around Doha,” said Ric Daos, a civil engineer from the Philippines. “It’s especially beneficial for those who don’t have a car to go to work.

Davina Bovell, a 72-year-old housewife from Scotland, who has been living in Qatar for five years, said she had been “looking forward to this day”. 

“It’s something that’s been needed for a very long time and I think it will open up places like al-Wakrah and others where people wouldn’t normally go to.”

The city of al-Wakrah is the site of one of the eight football stadiums that will host the 2022 World Cup.

The 40,000-capacity al-Wakrah stadium, 15 kilometres south of the capital, is due to be inaugurated next week. 

Construction for the Doha Metro started in 2013 and carried on amid a regional diplomatic crisis after neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, as well as Egypt, imposed a land, air and sea blockade on Qatar.

The second phase of construction, including an additional Blue line and 60 more stations, is expected to be completed by 2026.

Aljazeera

Bengaluru: Nearly 365 students from north Karnataka missed appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) here on Sunday, as the train in which they were travelling reached Bengaluru over seven hours late, an official said.

“The Hampi Express (train No. 16591) from Hubli to Mysuru via Koppal, Hospet and Bellary reached Bengaluru over seven hours late at 2:36 p.m. instead of the scheduled 7 a.m. arrival. As the test began at 2 p.m., the candidates could not reach the examination centres across the city in time,” South Western Railway (SWR) spokesperson E. Vijaya said in a statement here.

When the candidates staged a protest outside the railway station for missing the test for no fault of theirs, the SWR agreed to write to the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) for re-conducting the test for them at the earliest.

ABVP demands NEET re-exam

“We will write to the Ministry on Monday with details of the candidates who missed the test due to the train delay for re-conducting it soon,” said Vijaya.

The Railways, however, attributed the delay due to the diversion of the train route from the normal route due to doubling of line work and operational reasons since May 3.

“The diverted route is 120 km longer and involved reversing the train engine at Bellary. The train departed Hubli on Saturday night 2 hours late at 8:20 p.m. instead of 6:20 p.m. and got further delayed enroute for operational reasons,” the official admitted.

One of the candidates also tweeted to HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar that the train was running behind schedule by seven hours and that they would miss the test for no fault of theirs.

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy also urged Javdekar and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to ensure that the students who missed the test get another chance to write the NEET.

Hundreds of students from North Karnataka districts have missed the #NEET Exam being held today at Bengaluru due to a 7-hour delay of the Hampi Express. A last-minute change in the exam centres and lack of proper communication of the same has created confusion among students.

“Hundreds of students from north Karnataka districts have missed the #NEET being held in Bengaluru due to 7-hour delay of the Hampi Express,” tweeted Kumaraswamy.

The HRD ministry conducts the NEET every year in May for securing admission to state-run and private medical and dental colleges across the country for graduate and post-graduate courses.

Agencies

Thane, May 6 : A local court has sentenced a 57-year-old man to two rigorous imprisonment on charge of molesting a teenager here.
District Judge Ms SA Sinha on Saturday, also fined Arif Ahmed Memon a sum of Rs 500 under section 354A of the IPC.

Appearing for prosecution, APP Vijay Munde told the court that on May 17, 2017 around 2000 hrs, when the victim (12) was sitting outside her house, the accused made indecent gestures and touched her inappropriately.

The accused was earlier convicted for an offence of rape punishable under section 376 of the IPC in 2010 and was out after serving seven years RI in the jail.

Hemanth had allegedly demanded Rs 50 lakh claiming he had a sex tape of the legislator.

The Bengaluru Police have arrested the Managing Director of Kannada news channel Focus TV on Sunday for allegedly blackmailing a BJP MLA. The Central Crime Branch sleuths arrested Hemanth M Kammar for allegedly blackmailing Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali by alleging he had a sex tape of the legislator.

According to the CCB sleuths, Hemanth had demanded Rs 50 lakh from the legislator. A resident of Yelahanka New Town, he had launched the channel in 2018.

Police say that on May 2, Girish Bharadwaj MLA Limbavali’s assistant filed a complaint with DCP Whitefield Abdul Ahad. Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar transferred the case to CCB.
According to CCB sources, Hemanth had shut down the channel a few months ago due to severe losses. However, Hemanth had allegedly been blackmailing MLA Limbavali since February 10 this year.

“There was an explicit and morphed video of the MLA which was uploaded by a man named Raghu Mourya on Facebook in May 2018. He took it down but in February this year, Hemanth called up MLA Limbavali and told him that he had a video that would compromise his reputation and that the Chief Minister’s office was pressuring him to give them copies of the video,” the police said.

Police suspect that Hemanth was trying to extort money from the MLA in order to be able to pay off the people he owed money to as the news channel was running under severe loss.

“He told the MLA that a man named Satish from the CMO wanted the video and that the BBMP corporators from Congress and JD(S) and even the Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths wanted copies of the video so it could be leaked to the media. He blackmailed MLA Limbavali and told him that he would destroy the video if he paid up Rs 50 lakh,” the police added.

Police say that MLA Limbavali’s assistant called Hemanth on February 11 and asked him why he needed the money. However, Hemanth allegedly told Girish that he had obligations to fulfil. “Girish has claimed that the video is morphed. We have arrested Hemanth and are currently questioning him. However, we suspect that he wanted the money to start the channel once again and so he decided to blackmail the MLA,” the police added.

Hemanth has been booked under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 204 (destruction of documents) of the Indian Penal Code and also under various sections of the IT Act. He was produced before the magistrate and is currently in police custody. 

Agencies

Officials say they traced the outbreak to a doctor, who allegedly used a contaminated syringe on patients.

At least 90 people, including 65 children, are believed to have been infected with HIV in Pakistanby a doctor using a contaminated syringe, officials said.

“We have arrested a doctor after receiving complaints from the health authorities,” said Kamran Nawaz, the local police chief heading the case in the southern city of Larkana, on Friday.

“We are told that the doctor also has HIV,” he said.

Authorities were first alerted last week after 18 children living on the outskirts of the city tested positive for the virus, which causes AIDS, prompting health officials to carry out wider screenings. Dozens of more infections were found.

“More than 90 people have tested HIV-positive and the number of children is around 65,” Dr Abdul Rehaman, a district health official in Larkana, told AFP news agency.

A second official confirmed the outbreak, although gave slightly different figures.

Authorities said they traced the outbreak to a single doctor, who appears to have been using a contaminated syringe on patients.

Azra Pechuho, Sindh province’s health minister, confirmed his arrest. “The blood of the parents of the infected children was also tested, but their results were negative,” he said.

Officials have since launched an even larger testing and education drive.

Pakistan is considered a low prevalence country for HIV, but the disease is expanding – mostly among intravenous drug users, sex workers and migrant labourers returning from the Gulf.

Bengaluru, May 2 : Renowned theater artist and Kannada cinema actor Master Hirannaiah, a household name in Karnataka, passed away following illness on Thursday morning.
He was 85 and survived by wife and five children.
Master Hirannaiah, who had scripted several dramas in Kannada, had also anchored his own theater company, popularly known as “Hirannaiah Mithra Mandali’. He had presented several dramas revolving around political satire that had huge following in the state.
His masterpieses including that of Lanchavathara, Nadu Beedinarayana, Makmal Topi,
Bhrashtachara, Thirtharoopa, and others.
Master Hirannaiah, was become popular, through his unique presentation, in which he used to expose the political parties, its leaders and those in power. This led him to become a social activist as well.
Several leaders including Higher Education minister G T Deve Gowda condoled the demise of Hirannaiah and recalled his contribution to the Kannada literature as well as Theatere and Cinema fields.