Darjeeling Mail - উত্তরবঙ্গের ঐতিহ্য - Joydeep Roy

The BJP said on Monday the railways has subsidised 85 per cent of ticket fare for special trains being run to transport migrant workers and the state government has to pay the remaining 15 per cent, soon after the Congress attacked the central government over the issue.
The state government concerned can also pay for the tickets, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
He said the Madhya Pradesh government is doing so and asked Rahul Gandhi to tell the Congress-ruled states to follow suit.
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He was responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's attack on the railways for charging poor migrant labourers ticket fare, even as it donated over Rs 151 crore to the PM-CARES Fund. 
"Rahul Gandhi ji, I have attached guidelines of MHA which clearly states that 'No tickets to be sold at any station'. Railways has subsidised 85% & state govt to pay 15%. The state govt can pay for the tickets (Madhya Pradesh's BJP govt is paying). Ask Cong state govts to follow suit," Patra tweeted. 
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The BJP leader further clarified that for each 'Shramik Express', special trains being run for migrants, about 1,200 tickets to the destination are handed by the railways to the state government concerned. 
State governments are supposed to clear the ticket price and hand over the tickets to workers, he said. 
Seeking to corner the central government, the Congress on Monday said its state units will bear the cost of rail travel of needy migrant workers and labourers stranded at their workplaces due to the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a statement announced the party's decision and said this would be the Congress' humble contribution in standing shoulder to shoulder with these workers. 
In a tweet, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy claimed that migrant workers returning home will not have to pay money as the rail travel will be free from now onwards.
Swamy, in a tweet, said, "Talked to Piyush Goel office. Govt will pay 85% and State Govt 15%. Migrant labour will go free. Ministry will clarify with an official statement."

Indian Railways will forgo around Rs 660 crore in revenue as it is refunding the amount towards cancellation of around 39 lakh ticket bookings for travel between April 15 to May 3, the extended phase of the nationwide lockdown to fight coronavirus pandemic.
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The Railways had not stopped bookings for journeys beginning April 15.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced extending the 21-day nationwide lockdown till May 3. The initial spell of the drastic measure was scheduled to end at midnight of April 14.
“The total amount that will be refunded is around Rs 660 crore. Around 39 lakh bookings were made between April 15 and May 3,” a top official of the national transporter told PTI.
The Indian Railways has said that all passengers will get a full refund for tickets booked for the period of the extended lockdown.
It added that the amount would be automatically refunded to online customers, while those who booked tickets at the designated reservation counters could claim the refund till July 31.
Following the prime minister's announcement, the Indian Railways extended the suspension of all its passenger services till the end of the lockdown.
Also Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths
According to official data, a staggering 20 million people travel daily on nearly 15,000 passenger trains across the country.
The Railways said no advance reservation of train tickets, including e-tickets, will be allowed till further orders, though the facility of online cancellation will remain functional.
However, people on social media said that the Railways has deducted the convenience fee per online booking while making the refunds.
“When train is cancelled, the passenger is refunded full fare. Convenience fees is not refunded which are nominal to an individual and used for day-to-day maintenance and upgradation of the ticketing facility,” the railways explained in a statement.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) charges nominal convenience fee of Rs 15 per ticket for booking non AC travel and Rs 30 for air conditioned and first class tickets.
"A full refund will also be there for those cancelling advance bookings for trains not cancelled yet," the national transporter said.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, on an average, around 8.5 lakh tickets were booked on the IRCTC website daily.
After the prime minister's announcement of a 21-day lockdown across the country, the railways had announced suspension of all passenger services till April 14.

Indian Railways, which was on its way till February to not just meet but surpass its freight loading target, will end 2019-20 with 15.7 million tonnes less than the previous financial year’s 1,212.56 million tonnes, official figures show.
As business dries up due to the coronavirus pandemic and the railways virtually shuts down operations, earnings from freight loading have also plummeted -- from Rs 1,25,354 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 1,23,225 crore in 2019-2020 fiscal, a loss of Rs 2,129 crore.
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till April 14 as a measure to check the spread of the coronavirus that has infected more than 5,100 people in the country and claimed at least 149 lives.
In February this year, when the fear of the pandemic was yet to hit home, the railways loaded 106.5 million tonnes of goods, around 6 million tonnes more than in February last year.
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With the national transporter managing to load 1,108 million tonnes by the end of February this year, around 5 million tonnes more than what it was this time last year,  it looked good to achieve its target by March 31.
Things changed soon after as fear of the virus spread. On March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an unprecedented three-week lockdown of the country.
In March, freight loading dipped by almost  3 per cent with the railways carrying around 15.7 million tonnes less goods than the previous year.
"The coronavirus pandemic hit us hard from around the end of February when the demand started reducing. When there is no construction, no one needs cement or steel. When there is less demand for power, coal demands are less.
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"Then there is the issue with labour too. Their absence means loading and unloading is an issue. So over all, like any other business, our business too has been affected,’’ said an official.
This is the longest shutdown of operations by the railways since its 54-day strike in 1974.
The railways, however, continues to be the lifeline of the country, supplying essential commodities even through the nationwide lockdown.
From March 23 to April 4, it transported 1,342 wagons of sugar, 958 wagons of salt and 378 wagons/tanks of edible oil across the country.

A Rs 18,600 crore suburban train network for Bengaluru has found mention in the past three consecutive Union Budgets but the project has not moved forward, prompting Congress MP from Karnataka G C Chandrashekhar on Monday to warn the government that the cost would double if it is not rolled out immediately.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, Chandrashekhar said the project has been announced for the third time in the 2020-21 Budget but no allocation has been made so far. In 2018-19 and 2019-20 Budgets too, he said the project was announced but a meagre Rs one crore and Rs 10 crore were allocated respectively.
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of State for Railways Suresh Angadi has said last month that Rs1,400 crore is required immediately to kickstart the project and a Detailed Project Report was prepared with Rs 12,000 crore estimate in 2013, which has now risen to Rs 18,600 crore.
"Even now, if we don't start the work seriously, it will double the cost by the time we implement it," Chandashekhar said adding Bengaluru has become the world's worst traffic congested city due to increase in number of vehicles and population. "It is very essential for Bengaluru to implement a suburban train project. Just announcement will not solve the problem. The government should release the fund as early as possible," he said.
Quoting Transport Department statistics, he said 82,53,218 vehicles are there in Bengaluru and drivers spend an average 71% extra time on roads due to congestion during 2019. "Solution to Bengaluru traffic is only by improving public transport system such as suburban rail, metro and BMTC to provide last-mile connectivity to the people," he said.
In a separate intervention, Congress MP M V Rajeev Gowda raised the issue of hunger and chronic malnutrition among children and adolescents, while referring to India slipping seven places to 102 (out of 117 countries) in the Global Hunger Index.
"Three years ago, the government launched the Poshan Abhiyan. This was supposed to address these challenges. But as of 31 December, 2019, only 37% of these funds have actually been utilised or released. We have a policy. We have the funds. But why are things getting worse? What are the possible reasons?" he said.
Gowda said there is a need for better information dissemination at the village level itself so that people understand the issue. He also urged the NCERT. to include in its curriculum the methods to improve knowledge about nutrition. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry also should see how to curb advertisements that promote junk food, he added.
JD(S) MP D Kupendra Reddy highlighted the issue of around 18 lakh pending cases in Karnataka courts. "Thousands of fresh cases are filed every month. There are vacant posts of judges...Individual burden of work is much higher for High Court judges. Karnataka has the highest number of pending cases," he said demanding the government to fill up vacant posts in Karnataka Courts.

ग्वालियर. ग्वालियर सांसद विवेक शेजवलकर ने 12 मार्च को संसद में रेल बजट में चर्चा के दौरान ग्वालियर लोकसभा क्षेत्र से जुडी विभिन्न बिन्दुओं को पटल पर रखा है। उन्होंने जिसमें झांसी सवाई माधौपुर रेल्वे लाईन को शीघ्र स्वीकृत किया जाए। झांसी-शिवपुरी-करैरा व श्योपुर को रेलवे लाइन से जोड़ा जाए। इससे क्षेत्र के लोग सीधे लखनउ और जयपुर से जुड़ सकेंगे। ग्वालियर से श्योपुर ब्रोडगेज लाईन का निर्माण शीघ्र किया जाए। ग्वालियर शहर में निर्माणाधीन हरिशंकरपुरम एवं तानसेन रोड से मेला रोड पर निर्माणाधीन आरओबी का कार्य जल्द पूरा किया जाए। ग्वालियर से अयोध्या के लिए सीधी रेल सेवा प्रारम्भ की जाए। मोहना, घाटीगांव, में भी मानव रहित क्रोसिंग को खत्म करके अंडर ब्रिज बनाए जाएं।
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में वर्तमान ओवरब्रिज के बगल में सर्राफा बाजार के सामने अंडरब्रिज की आवश्यकता पिछले लम्बे समय से महसूस की जा रही है। क्योंकि डबरा रेल्वे लाईन के दोनों तरफ बसा है और आंकडे भी साबित करते है कि अंडरब्रिज के अभाव में रेल से कटने की दुर्घटनाएं होती रहती है। वर्तमान में डबरा शहर के रेल्वे ओवर ब्रिज पर भारी एवं अन्य छोटे वाहनों की संख्या काफी अधिक होने के कारण अक्सर जाम की स्थिति बनी रहती है। जिस कारण अधिकांश पैदल चलने वाले लोगों को रेल्वे पटरी पर चलकर रास्ता पार करना पडता है।
इन ट्रेनों को मिले स्टॉपेजहजरत निजामुद्दीन से छत्रपति शिवाजी महाराज टर्मिनस के बीच मुंबई राजधानी एक्सप्रेस का संचालन हो रहा है। इस ट्रेन का स्टॉपेज आगरा एवं झांसी में है। इसे ग्वालियर रुकने से मुम्बई जाने वाले यात्रियों को लाभ मिलेगा। वहीं रेलवे ने वर्तमान में जो अंडर ब्रिज बनाए हैं। उनमें से अधिकतर में बारिश का पानी भर जाता है। इससे यातायात बाधित रहता है। इस स्थिति को सही कराया जाए।