2,000 students from 40 colleges to sing ‘Vande Mataram’ on Malpe beach to create record

Bengaluru, Jan 14: A woman has sustained burns on the left hand and the left chest in a vicious acid attack that occurred as she walked home in Mallappa Layout, Seegehalli, near KR Puram in Bengaluru.

Prabhavathi, the victim, and her husband, Radhakrishna Reddy, own an acre and six guntas of land in Seegehalli. They had constructed 20 houses on the parcel and rented them while keeping the rest of the land empty and building a boundary wall around it, according to a senior police officer. 

Four men named Ravi, Kumar, Ashirvadam and Shekar laid claim to the land and demolished the boundary wall two years ago. When the couple approached the cops, Manjunath, a sub-inspector from KR Puram police station, visited the spot along with other officers and allegedly abused Reddy and his family. 

Reddy then approached a senior police officer who suggested that he file a complaint against the sub-inspector as well as his rivals for threatening the family. The case is pending in a case. 

On January 7, Ravi, along with four others — Raghu, Kabalan, Ashrivadam and Munireddy — mocked Prabhavathi as she walked home. They asked her to withdraw the complaint. When she ignored them, one of the men motioned to another person. In a flash, a man in the group threw acid on Prabhavathi. The liquid fell on her left hand and left chest, gashing them. Her screams drew her family who rushed her to a hospital. 

Reddy said the suspects had been intimidating them to sell the remaining land. He accused the KR Puram sub-inspector of “threatening” the family.

According to Reddy, following their complaint, a departmental enquiry was launched against the sub-inspector and his promotion was stalled. He suggested that the suspects had used the acid attack as a weapon to “silence” and force them into withdrawing the complaints. 

Following the acid attack, KR Puram police booked eight people — Ravi, Raghu, Kabalan, Ashirvadam, Munireddy, Sachin, Rahul, and Kumareshan — under IPC sections 326 (a) (acid attack) and 506 (criminal intimidation). Efforts are on to track them down. 

Varanasi, Feb 17: For the first time, the Indian Railways has reserved a seat for a deity on a train. The national transporter, which launched its third IRCTC operated train named Kashi Mahakal Express from Varanasi to Indore, has reserved a seat for Lord Mahakal (Lord Shiva) on board.

Speaking to media, Northern Railway spokesperson Deepak Kumar said: "It is for the first time that a seat has been left reserved for a deity."

"One seat in Kashi Mahakal Express (seat number 64 in B5 coach) has been left reserved for Lord Shiva," he said.

"Even a temple has been drawn on the seat to make people aware that the seat is reserved for Lord Mahakal," he said.

IRCTC's Director, Tourism, Rajni Hasija said that the practice would continue beyond the inaugural run.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Kashi Mahakal Express via video conferencing from Varanasi, where he is all launched several projects worth Rs 1,250 crore during the day's visit to his parliamentary constituency.

The third IRCTC train, after the two Tejas Express trains on New Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Ahmedabad routes, the Kashi Mahakal Express will connect three places -- Jyotirlinga-Omkareshwar (near Indore), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain) and Kashi Vishwanath (at Varanasi).

Also connecting the industrial and educational hub of Indore, with Bhopal, the train will begin its commercial run from February 20.

"The Kashi Mahakal Express will operate three days in a week and it will be a bi-weekly service through the Sultanpur-Lucknow route and a weekly service via the Prayagraj route," Kumar said.

Elaborating on the two routes from which the train will pass every week, Hasija said: "Once the new train starts its regular run from this week, it will depart from Varanasi at 2.45 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday to reach Indore at 9.40 a.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

Similarly, the train will start from Indore at 10.55 a.m. every Wednesday and Friday and will reach Varanasi at 6.00 a.m. the next day. This train will have stoppages at Ujjain, Sant Hirdaram Nagar, Bina, Jhansi, Kanpur and Sultanpur stations in both directions.

Meanwhile, in the weekly service via Prayagraj route, the Kashi Mahakal Express will depart from Varanasi at 3.15 p.m. every Sunday to reach Indore at 9.40 a.m. the next day. On the other way, it will depart from Indore at 10.55 a.m. every Monday and reach Varanasi at 5 a.m. the next day.

"This train will halt at Ujjain, Sant Hirdaram Nagar, Bina, Jhansi, Kanpur and Allahabad stations in both directions," Kumar said.

Explaining the fares of the Kashi Mahakal Express, Hasija said, "Kashi Mahakal Express will follow a dynamic fare structure like the other two Tejas Express trains."

One-way journey from Varnasi to Indore will cost Rs 1,951, inclusive of four meals.

According to the IRCTC officials, the Indore-Varanasi Kashi Mahakal Express will be the first private train that will run overnight and for a comfortable long distance journey, will feature a host of facilities. The IRCTC will serve vegetarian food, and provide housekeeping services, on-board security services and bedrolls.

The IRCTC officials said that passengers will also get complementary insurance of Rs 10 lakh.

The train will have an advance reservation period of 120 days and will only have the general and foreign tourist quotas. The current booking will be available to the passengers on the platform itself after preparation of first chart, four hours to five minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.

To facilitate travel for pilgrims, the IRCTC is also introducing special tour packages for passengers who want to see the pilgrim centres enroute. The tour options are; Mahakal Darshan (Ujjain - Omkareshwar), Bhopal-Sanchi-Bhimbetka, Malwa Jyotrilinga Darshan (Ujjain-Omkareshwar- Maheshwar- Indore) and Bhopal-Sanchi-Bhimbetka-Ujjain. Other tour options include Kashi, Ayodhya and Prayag; Kashi Darshan; Kashi, Prayag, Ayodhya; Kashi and Prayag and only Kashi.

The train has silent features like CCTV cameras, which will be monitored online around the clock from the IRCTC centres, whereas for the first time the IRCTC has brought the marshals in the train for passengers safety and also to make people aware to not smoke inside the train as it has smoke and heat sensors installed in the coaches as well as in the bathroom. For the blind passengers, the train coaches have the seat numbers written in Braille, and the catering staff will be dressed in yellow kurta-pyjamas with a rudraksh malas on their necks to promote the train's theme.

Koppal, Jun 3: Opposition Leader in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that allegedly there was deep crisis in the state BJP but categorically denied any role of Congress in it.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Chief Minister said 'I and my party have nothing to do with the developments in the ruling party. I came to know through media that some 25 BJP MLAs allegedly not satisfied with the way of functioning of the government. The Congress party is not interested in what is happenings in BJP and if the government falls on its own, then Congress might stake claim to form the government eventually".

Mr Siddaramaiah alleged that the State’s BJP government was trying to 'subvert the Constitution and Panchayat Raj Laws' by postponing election to Gram Panchayats citing spread of COVID-19.

'The Commission has not provided any information so far about the preparation of electoral rolls, fixing of reservation to seats, and calendar of events for holding elections. It is the duty of the Commission to hold elections as per the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act,' he further said.

The EC on May 28 postponed elections to GPs citing 'exceptional circumstances' prevailing in Karnataka following the coronavirus pandemic situation. Elections to as many as 5,800 GPs scheduled to be held by next month with the ending of their terms have been put off, and fresh dates were yet to be announced.