Train runs over 35 devotees, mob attacks train driver

August 19, 2013
Khagaria (Bihar), Aug 19: A speeding express train ran over devotees waiting on tracks to stop it, leaving 35 persons dead and triggering angry protests by locals who attacked the train driver and set afire its coach besides engine of another train at Dhamara Ghat Station in Khagaria district today. bihar

The 'kanwarias' (devotees of Lord Shiva) were on the tracks after alighting from the Samastipur-Saharsa passenger when they were run over by the Saharsa-Patna Rajyarani Express travelling at 80 kmph, officials said.

Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Law and Order S K Bharadwaj told PTI that 35 pilgrims were killed.

A senior railway official also said that the toll could be around 35, but refused to be quoted.

Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said the train was not supposed to halt at Dhamara Ghat and was given clearance to pass through the area but the devotees were on the tracks thinking they could stop the train.

Though the driver applied emergency brakes, it was too late by then, he said, adding an internal inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

The pilgrims were going to nearby Katyani Sthan temple to offer 'jalabhishek' to Lord Shiva on the fourth and final Monday of the holy month of Shrawan when the mishap took place.

Soon after the accident, local people attacked the train driver.

Superintendent of Police S K Jha told PTI over phone that the engine of the Samastipur-Saharsa passenger train and an AC coach of Saharsa-Patna Rajyarani Express were set on fire by the enraged locals.

The two drivers of the express train, Rajaram Paswan and Sushil Kumar Suman, were traceless and their mobile phones switched off, ECR CPRO Amitabh Prabhakar said.

However, the Railway Board Chairman said the driver was safe without specifying.

He said it was a case of trespassing as the pilgrims were illegally trying to cross the tracks.

Minister of state for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the express was travelling at a speed of 80 km per hour when the accident occurred.

He said although relief trains carrying doctors and nurses were sent from Saharsha and Barauni, they could not reach the spot as the law and order situation there was not conducive because of protests by angry people.

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News Network
March 3,2020

Daman, Mar 3: A BJP councillor was shot dead on Monday in the Union Territory of Daman, police said.

Salim Memon was sitting in his motorcycle showroom when three to four unidentified persons shot four to five bullets after asking a visitor there to move out, an official said quoting eye-witnesses.

While fleeing, they also shot two rounds close to this visitor who was standing outside, he said.

"Memon was rushed to a hospital in Marwad area but was declared dead on arrival. CCTV footage is being scanned to nab the culprits," said Daman Superintendent of Police Vikramjit Singh.

Memon was elected to Daman municipality as a Congress candidate but then switched over to the BJP.

Sources said Memon, who also has a land brokerage business, had come out of jail a few months back in connection with a case of rivalry.

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News Network
February 27,2020

New Delhi, Feb 27: An Indian Air Force aircraft on Thursday evacuated 76 Indians and 36 foreign nationals from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan.

The C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft was sent to Wuhan on Wednesday and it carried 15 tonnes of medical supplies for coronavirus-affected people in China.

On its return, the aircraft brought back 112 people, including 23 citizens from Bangladesh, six from China, two each from Myanmar and the Maldives and one each from South Africa, the US and Madagascar.

Earlier, India had evacuated around 650 Indians from Wuhan in two Air India flights.

“In all 723 Indian nationals and 43 foreign nationals have been evacuated from Wuhan, China, in these three flights,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

On the medical supplies delivered by India to China, the MEA said they would help augment the country’s efforts to control the coronavirus outbreak which had been declared as a public health emergency by the World Health Organisation.

“The assistance is also a mark of friendship and solidarity from the people of India towards the people of China as the two countries also celebrate 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year,” it said.

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News Network
July 1,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 1: A day after the Government banned several Chinese apps, popular short-form video app Mitron reported that its daily traffic jumped up by more than 11 times.

Just 5 days after crossing the 10 million (1 crore) downloads milestone, Mitron has now announced that the app has been downloaded by 17 million (1.7 crore) users in India. Mitron app has been one of the most downloaded apps in India during the last two months.

"It is incredibly exciting to see the rapid adoption of Mitron by Indian users. 11-fold jump in traffic, immediately after the ban of Chinese apps, was beyond our expectations," said Shivank Agarwal, Founder, and CEO, Mitron.

Anish Khandelwal, Founder and CTO said, " We have built a solid backend infrastructure and our platform is now completely scalable and autonomous and that is helping us to cater to the sharp rise in traffic on Mitron App."

Mitron has been rapidly enhancing the product with several improvements for the users including an updated video upload process that is much easier, enhanced audio library with a wide choice of Indian content, and a feature that enables users to flag any inappropriate content easily.

Users uploaded millions of videos in 10 different languages and the number of videos viewed on the platform increased sharply to cross 30 million video views per hour.

Shivank added "We are a young company and we are hiring some of the best product & engineering talent to scale up Mitron rapidly. We are confident that we can build Mitron into one of the best apps in the short-form video space. Our focus is on building features and content that uniquely resonates with Indian users, while being sensitive to community standards and local laws in India and we believe that will help us build Mitron into a very large business."

Founded by two Computer Science engineers, Shivank Agarwal (alumnus of IIT Roorkee) and Anish Khandelwal (alumnus of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology), Mitron app is a short-form video app that allows users to create, upload and view entertaining short videos.

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