Archives for March 2024

New Delhi/Ajmer : Four coaches of the Sabarmati-Agra superfast train derailed near the Ajmer station on Monday morning, officials said.

No loss of life was reported in the incident that occurred at around 1 am, they said, adding that the express train was on its way to Agra.

“The incident took place when the train crossed Ajmer station and it was about to reach Madar station. The reason for the derailment is not known yet,” Shashi Kiran, Chief Public Relations Officer, North Western Railway (NWR) Zone, told PTI.

“No injury or casualty has been reported. The train movement in the up/down direction towards the Delhi side has already started. We are about to start the services in the Uttar Pradesh direction too,” he added.

The NWR has set up a helpdesk at the Ajmer station and also released a helpline number — 0145-2429642 — for relatives of the passengers travelling on the train, the official said.

“Six trains have been cancelled and two trains have been diverted to other routes,” Kiran said.

Kolkata : Two persons died and seven others were injured as an under-construction five-storeyed building collapsed in the Garden Reach area of Kolkata, city mayor Firhad Hakim said on Monday.

Hakim apprehended that some more people might still be trapped under the debris.

The rescue operation is going on at the site located at Azan Molla Lane in the city’s western periphery.

“Sad to learn about the house collapse disaster of an under-construction building in the Garden Reach area of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Our Mayor, Fire Minister, Secretaries and Commissioner of Police, civic, police, fire and disaster management officers and teams (including NDRF, KMC and KP teams) have been on site throughout the night for mitigating the disaster,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote on X.

She said the government will provide compensation to the next of kin of each deceased and the injured persons.

“We stand by the distressed families and rescue operations shall continue,” Banerjee said on the microblogging site.

“In a horrific accident, an under-construction five-storeyed building collapsed around midnight. Two persons were killed and at least seven people were injured,” Hakim said.

At least 10 people were rescued from the site, an official said.

The city mayor said there were still a few persons trapped under the debris and efforts were on to rescue them.

The injured were admitted to a hospital, he said.

Hakim, who is also West Bengal’s urban development minister, said, “I have spoken to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and we will give Rs five lakh to the next of kin of each deceased person and Rs one lakh to each injured person.”

Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal visited the spot and took stock of the rescue operation.

“The under-construction building collapsed in the Garden Reach area late on Sunday night. We have rescued a few people. The recuse operation is still going on,” a police official said.

According to locals, who were the first responders, concrete chunks fell from the building before it collapsed.

There was a loud sound and a thick cloud of dust engulfed the area as the building collapsed. The debris fell on nearby shanties in the densely populated area, they said.

“Although no one lived in the under-construction building, it collapsed on the adjacent shanties. We fear that many individuals might still be trapped under the rubble,” said a resident.

“I am receiving frantic calls regarding probable casualties. Please dispatch any team which can help in rescuing the victims, be it Fire Servicemen, Police or any other team,” he said.

Adhikari also shared pictures from the building collapse site.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the State Bank of India to make a complete disclosure of all details related to electoral bonds, including the unique bond numbers that would disclose the link between the buyer and the recipient political party, by March 21.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said there is “no manner of doubt” that the SBI is required to disclose complete details of the bonds.

It directed the SBI chairman to file an affidavit before it by 5 pm on March 21 indicating that the bank has disclosed all the details.

During the hearing, the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, observed that the SBI can’t be selective and has to disclose all “conceivable” electoral bond details in its possession, including unique bond numbers that would disclose the link between the buyer and the recipient political party.

The bench said the apex court had, in its verdict in the electoral bonds case, asked the bank to disclose all the details of the bonds and it should not wait for further orders on this aspect.

“We had asked all details to be disclosed by the SBI which includes electoral bond numbers as well. Let SBI not be selective in disclosure,” the bench orally said during the hearing.

Last week, the top court issued a notice to the country’s largest bank to explain the reasons for the non-disclosure of unique alphanumeric numbers in compliance with its directions, saying the SBI was “duty bound” to reveal them.

On April 12, 2019, the apex court issued an interim order directing that the information about the donations received and donations which will be received must be submitted by political parties to the EC in a sealed cover.

In its landmark verdict on February 15, the top court had scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13.

Mamata Banerjee C.M West Bengal

Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday visited Garden Reach area in the city, where an under-construction building collapsed, leaving two persons dead and at least seven people injured.

She directed Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal to take action against those involved in the illegal construction of the five-storey building which collapsed around midnight in the area.

Banerjee also visited the hospital where the injured persons are undergoing treatment.

“This is a very congested area. This building had no sanction from the authorities and it was illegal. I have told the CP and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to take action,” she told reporters after taking stock of the situation.

Banerjee with her forehead bandaged visited the place. She suffered an injury on her forehead on Thursday evening and underwent stitches.

The chief minister said that her government stands by the families whose shanties were damaged in the building collapse.

She also said that two persons were killed in the building collapse and five to six people might still be trapped under the debris.

“This is Ramzan month and this incident happened. I extend my condolences to the bereaved families,” she added.

Rampur (UP): Former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan along with three others was convicted by a special court here on Saturday in a case of a forced demolition of a house in 2016 in the Dungarpur area, officials said.

The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Monday, they said.

Advocate Rohtash Kumar Pandey from the prosecution side said Judge Vijay Kumar of MP-MLA Court of Rampur held Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, former Nagar Palika chairman Azhar Ahmed Khan and former circle officer Ale Hasan and Barkat Ali guilty.

Three other accused — Jibran, Farman and Omendra Chauhan — were acquitted by the court, Pandey said.

A total of seven people were booked in 2019 for the forced demolition of a house in 2016 under the Samajwadi Party government, he said.

The case was registered at the Ganj police station under the Indian Penal Code sections 447 (punishment for criminal trespass), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 395 (punishment for dacoity) and 412 (dishonestly receiving property stolen in the commission of a dacoity), Pandey said.

The case was filed after the change of government in Uttar Pradesh, he added.

The four accused have been convicted for offences under Indian Penal Code sections 447, 427, 504, and 506, he said.

Azam Khan, 75, is currently serving a sentence in Sitapur jail in another criminal case.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge

Bengaluru, Mar 16: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said a seven phase election for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls meant that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to tour everywhere”. Kharge opined that the polls should have rather been completed in three or four phases.

“We are not anxious about what is going to happen, but Modiji putting seven phases, it means that he wants to tour everywhere. In this country, I have also contested nearly 12 elections and there hardly used to be four phases. Sometimes it used to be even one phase. I have seen two phases also but maximum it used to be four,” he told reporters here.

Kharge said conducting polls in seven phases meant that nearly all the development works will be stopped.

“Stopping nearly 70-80 days, imagine how the country will progress? Because of the election code of conduct…materials will not be supplied. Budget will not be spent. So according to me this is not good. He could have completed within three or four phases,” he said.

“So, it is easy for people also to get their businesses completed, infrastructure everything. It should have helped but anyways Modi is Modi,” he added.

The 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases beginning from April 19 with the counting of votes scheduled on June 4 for the world’s biggest election exercise, according to the announcement by the Election Commission.