2 bodies found, dozens missing in Mumbai-Goa highway bridge collapse

August 3, 2016

Raigad (Maharashtra), Aug 3: Two bodies were recovered on Wednesday after more than half the Mumbai-Goa highway bridge collapsed the previous night, plunging around 10 vehicles into the water.

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A multi-agency search operation was launched in the morning after a section of the British era bridge gave way due to heavy rains, leaving at least 22 people missing.

The bridge collapsed around midnight on Tuesday, but vehicles, unable to see the missing section in the dark, fell into the river. Two Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses were among the vehicles, carrying 17 passengers in total.

State authorities fear that victims of the mishap might have been washed into the sea 35 kms away.

Locals found the two male bodies 8 kms downstream from the site of the collapse. State authorities including the Raigad collector and the state public works minister, said the bodies were yet to be identified.

Government agencies, including teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Navy and Indian Coast Guard, began search and rescue operations on Wednesday morning. The collector and police superintendent had arrived to coordinate efforts.

Stalled traffic from the collapsed bridge was diverted to a parallel bridge, the collector said.

Confirming the incident, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted at around 2 am on Tuesday night, saying: “There is no confirmed assessment of the casualties as the area is still very dark.”

He explained that there were two parallel bridges -- an old one constructed during the British era, and new one -- which connected to the Mumbai-Goa highway, both critical links to the road network.

“Primary reason seems to be high pressure caused due to flooding of river Savitri due to heavy rains in catchment of Mahabaleshwar,” ANI reported him as saying.

According to MSRTC?officials, the incident happened around 11:30 pm. They received information of the mishap when a driver of a Mumbai-bound bus saw a state transport bus being swept away in the current and alerted MSRTC control.

“Appearantly two buses, Jaigad-Mumbai and Rajapur-Borivali, are suspected to have washed away in the flood when the bridge collapsed along with some private vehicles. Seventeen passengers, nine and eight each, were travelling in the two buses,”said VV Ratnaparakhi, general manager (traffic), MSRTC.

The corporation has been unable to contact their staff on the buses.

MSRTC is the biggest public transport undertaking in the country with more than 17,000 buses ferrying 60 lakh passengers daily.

Rescue efforts afoot

Ranjitsingh Deol, vice chairman and managing director of MSRTC, said their officials had reached the spot and were assisting the NDRF team and other authorities in search and rescue operations.

Anupam Srivastava, commandant, NDRF (Pune), said, “The first team comprising of 40 men consisting of divers, swimmers, boats and equipment necessary for rescue operations was dispatched at 5 am in the morning. Three more teams -- two from Mumbai and one from Pune, each consisting of 40 men, have been asked to join operations.”

The Coast Guard dispatched a Chetak helicopter for search sorties at about 8:15 am to locate people who were swept away in the river’s current. A Seaking 42C all weather aircraft with diving team is being launched by the Indian Navy, a defence spokesperson said.

Additional superintendent of police (Raigad), Sanjay Patil, said 35 professional divers were combing the area on five boats and two kayaks. He added one helicopter from the coast guard and Navy each had joined the aerial survey.

For information on the missing persons, one may contact the toll free number 1077 or call on 02141 - 222118.

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Comments

R Ahmed
 - 
Wednesday, 3 Aug 2016

Also please take proper action on Gurupr bridge , thats also very old and from british era

Rikaz
 - 
Wednesday, 3 Aug 2016

Government should give priority on maintaining Kulur bridge, that too was built during british time.....please do not save money at the cost of safety of humankind.....

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News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: Life was limping back to normalcy in some parts of the riot-hit northeast Delhi, with police and paramilitary personnel maintaining strict vigil in view of Friday prayers at mosques.

Police officers said they were also making extra efforts to quell rumours, and holding regular flag marches and interactions in the neighbourhoods of affected areas as confidence-building measures.

In some areas of northeast Delhi, signs of normal life were witnessed with opening of shops. In violence-hit areas also, shops in streets and bylanes were open.

Nearly 7,000 paramilitary forces have been deployed in the affected areas of the northeast district since Monday. Besides, hundreds of Delhi police personnel are on the ground to maintain peace and prevent any untoward incident.

At least 38 were killed and over 200 injured in the communal clashes that broke out in northeast Delhi on Monday after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control The areas affected include Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chand Bagh, Khureji Khas and Bhajanpura..

The Union Home Ministry had said on Thursday night that no major incident was reported from the northeast district in the past 36 hours, It had said that prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 would be relaxed for 10 hours in view of improvement in the situation.

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Agencies
May 31,2020

New Delhi, May 31: Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday questioned the Prime Minister on how much money has been given to labourers from the PM-CARES Fund.

"I would like to ask Prime Minister Modi, 'Can you tell us how much money did you give to labourers from your PM-CARES Fund?' I request him to answer this question. Many people died during this period, some died while walking, some died in the train, some died of hunger," Sibal said while addressing a virtual press conference.

The senior Congress leader further asked how much ex gratia did the Prime Minister give to the labourers who died in the corona crisis while negotiating the lockdown.

"I refer you to Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act. It says that ex gratia assistance on account of the loss of life and also assistance for the restoration of livelihood should be provided by the government. Did the government give ex gratia assistance to people who died in the crisis? The act also mentions special provisions for widows and orphans. The government should clarify how much assistance they gave to such people," he said.

Sibal said that the government should keep aside its agenda for the last six years and concentrate on making pro-poor policies.

"In the coming days, our economy is going to go into the negative territory as also confirmed by RBI. There are 45 crore labourers in our country. What will be their state? We have to look at our future. That is why we want to request the government that the agenda that they have run over the last six years should be kept aside and that government should care about the poor and draft policies for them," the Congress leader said.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Meerut, Jan 8: Hangman Pawan Jallad, who officials say is being considered to carry out the execution of the four Nirbhaya gangrape case convicts, on Tuesday said he is ready for the job which will send out a strong message in the society.

He said executing those who were involved in the horrific crime will bring "great relief" to him, Nirbhaya's parents and everybody else.

Earlier in the day, a Delhi court issued death warrants against all the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case and ordered that they are hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail.

The death warrant, also known as a black warrant, addressed to the office of the Tihar jail chief, was issued by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora against Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31).

"I do not have any information regarding the execution, nobody has spoken to me yet. If anyone approaches me, I am ready to do the job. Earlier, I was asked to be ready for the execution on December 16," Pawan Jallad told reporters here.

"Those who were involved in this brutal incident must be hanged, which will send out a strong message in the society," he said.

"Hanging the Nirbhaya gangrape case convicts will certainly bring great relief to me, her parents and everybody else," he added.

Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old paramedic student, was gang-raped and brutalised on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a moving bus in south Delhi by the four men, along with two others, before being dumped on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Of the six persons convicted, one allegedly committed suicide in jail and another, a juvenile, was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

When contacted, Jail Superintendent of Meerut prison V P Pandey said he has not yet received any letter from Tihar authorities.

"Last month, we had received a letter asking us to keep Pawan Jallad ready but there is no fresh communication. The Delhi court warrants were issued this evening, maybe we will get the letter for sending him by tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said.

The gangrape of 23-year-old, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya', the fearless one, sparked outrage across the country. Repulsed, people took to the streets across the country, demanding justice for her and better safety measures for women.

The case led to toughening of India's rape laws.

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