Mumbai rains: All 900 on-board Mahalaxmi Express rescued

Agencies
July 27, 2019

Badlapur, Jul 27: Around 900 passengers, including railway staff, who were stranded on board Mumbai-Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Express, which was marooned in floodwaters between Vagani and Badlapur stations, near 100 km from Mumbai, were rescued and taken to safety, after an 8-hour-long rescue operation mounted by various forces,

Children, women, nine of them pregnant, elders and disabled persons were rescued first and taken to a safer location nearby. Several boats were used for the rescue operation, while 37 doctors, including a gynaecologist, were deployed at the site.

The train was standed at the place from 3 am, passengers said.

Units of the National Disaster Relief Relife (NDRF), army and air force along with railway officials were deployed from early morning to rescue the passengers, who thanked the authorities for the help. 

As many as nine pregnant women were there and elderly people were rescued after rescuing them. Finally male passengers were evacuated, said NDRF chief S N Pradhan.

Several of them, including senior citizens, could be seen walking on the tracks where the waters had receded. The rescued passengers have left for Mumbai, officials said.

Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in New Delhi that his ministry got information about the stranded train at about 8.50 am while two teams of NDRF started the rescue operation at 9.40 am.

"We got the information at 8.50 am while 2 teams of NDRF along with 9 boats reached there at 9.40 am and started the rescue operation," said Rai.

"Home Ministry contacted Air Force officials, Railway officials & Maharashtra govt officials. We were in constant touch with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The Home Minister himself monitored the operation," he added.

SN Pradhan, DG NDRF said, "Women and children were evacuated first including 9 pregnant women after that elderly person were evacuated and finally male passengers. The operation went on for around 8 hours, around 900 passengers have been safely evacuated."

Home Minister Amit Shah praised various forces for the rescue effort which was closely monitored by his ministry.

"Teams of NDRF, Navy, IAF, Railways and state administration have safely rescued all the 700 passengers stranded on Mahalaxmi Express near Mumbai. We were closely monitoring the entire operation. Kudos to the rescue teams for their exemplary effort", he said in a tweet.

Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer said that a special train with 19 coaches will leave from Kalyan to Kolhapur with the passengers of Mahalaxmi Express. 

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News Network
May 11,2020

New Delhi, May 11: Shares of Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) jumped 5 per cent in early trade on Monday after the Indian Railways said it will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12.

The company's shares gained 5 per cent to Rs 1,302.85 -- its highest trading permissible limit for the day -- on the BSE. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), it rose 5 per cent to Rs 1,303.55 -- its upper circuit limit.

Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4pm on May 11 and will be available only on the IRCTC website.

The Indian Railways will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12 and will ask passengers to arrive at the station at least an hour before departure, the national transporter said on Sunday.

Initially, the all air-conditioned services will begin on 15 Rajdhani routes and the fare would be equivalent to that of the super-fast train, it said.

The special trains will run from New Delhi to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

All passenger services were suspended due to a lockdown announced on March 25 and the railways later started the on-demand Shramik Specials to ferry migrants stranded across the country. It, however, has been running freight and parcel services.

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News Network
June 29,2020

New Delhi, Jun 29: A disturbing video of a Covid-19 patient, speaking his last words, after his oxygen supply was allegedly cut off, has surfaced on social media. The patient reportedly died after indicating that the oxygen supply to him was cut off despite his requests.

The video has a 35-year-old Covid-19 patient bidding good-bye to his family, from a government hospital bed in Hyderabad. The patient Ravi Kumar can be seen speaking out against the negligence of of the medical staff in providing ventilator support to him when he needed it the most.

The video has led to social media outrage as it attracted public attention towards plight of patients in government hospitals

"I am not able to breathe, I pleaded but they did not continue oxygen for the last three hours. I am not able to breathe anymore daddy, it's like my heart has stopped, Bye daddy. Bye to all, daddy," these were apparently the final words of the man, who spoke in his local dialect, and shared on social media.

Several reports have claimed that the man had been admitted to government Chest hospital, after several private hospitals refused to admit him. His ventilator support was allegedly taken off in the hospital, after which he recorded the video message.

The victim’s family shared the video message for the public to know of the negligence.

Reports have it that Ravi’s covid-19 report, which testes positive, was given to family a day after his death, when 30 of his family members performed the final rites, thus making all of them vulnerable to the virus. Ravi’s father has alleged that the test was done on June 24 and Ravi died on June 26, while the report was given to them on June 27.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

New Delhi, Jun 26: The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has issued a notification to enable citizens with mild to medium colour blindness to obtain a driving licence.

An official release said that the Ministry has been taking measures to enable divyangjan citizens to avail transport-related services, especially driving licence.

It said the ministry received representations that the colour blind citizens are not able to get a driving licence due to requirements in the declaration about physical fitness (Form I) or the medical certificate (Form IA).

The release said that the issue was taken up with expert medical institution and advice sought.

The recommendations received were that mild to medium colour blind citizens be allowed to drive and restrictions should only be on the severe colour blind citizens.

"This is also allowed in other parts of the world," the release said.

The notification seeks to amend Form 1 and Form 1A pertaining to Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989.

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