53-year-old disabled coolie runs 6km to avert major train mishap in Udupi

Harsha Raj Gatty | coastaldigest.com
October 31, 2018

Neglecting his limping leg, a 53-year-old coolie worker raced 6 kms to alert railway authorities of a broken track and averted a major railway mishap at Udupi last Saturday. By the time the railway team reached the spot, the earlier gap in the track had already widened and the train bound from Goa was on arrival.

Diagnosed with a nerve issue in his right-leg over a year ago, Krishna Poojary was at the habit of walking barefoot on the gravel stone-bed on the railway track for quite some time. "I am under injections and medications. However, as a therapeutic relief the doctor had advised me to walk on the gravel stones, as it would relax my leg muscle. Since I stay close to the track at Korangrapady, I have made it a point to walk on it on a daily basis. Otherwise, besides the train there is no other person in that area at any point of time," he says.

A little over 06.30 am on Saturday, Poojary was on his regular routine, when he noticed a crack at Brahmasthana in Korangrapady. "Since, I could not seek anyone's help, I quickly started pacing towards the Indrali railway station," he says. Despite the seething pain, Poojary claims that he was able to reach the station office in 30 minutes.

At the station, Poojary apprised the railway personnel about the track condition. The officials immediately alerted higher authorities and within 40-minutes the team led by Poojary reached the spot for inspection. "By the time we reached, the track had already widened. It was later learnt that unaware of the danger a goods train had somehow managed to pass in the meanwhile," Poojary said.

On learning that a train from Goa was en-route, the railway authorities instantly contacted other stations and informed them about the impending danger, while simultaneously fixing the track. "In a short while, we informed other trains to pass. But we had advised them to slow their speed, since temporary emergency devices were put in place to avert the sudden danger," a railway official said.

Generally a coolie worker, off season Krishnappa dubs himself as a cook at a local eatery called 'Cool Point’ at Korangrapady. On being asked, how did he manage to be committed to the cause despite the injury, Krishnappa recounts his memory of witnessing a 40-year-old railway incident at Nelamangala.

“During those days when education was a luxury, this boy who worked with us at a shack as a waiter had successfully finished his graduation and was returning home. He was de-boarding a running train at Nelamangala station, when his bag got stuck in one of the hinges at the boogie door and he was pulled back to the fast moving vehicle. The scene of the body being dragged and crushed is still fresh in my mind, as we watched helplessly," he said. Poojary adds that he is constantly plagued by the thought of the incident. "I would have never been able to forgive myself if something had happened this time. I believe, the emotions made me forget my pain and I did not even realise my leg mattered until I reached and alerted the railway officials," he says.

Felicitation

Recognising his heroic effort, the Konkan Railway will felicitate Krishna Poojary at his home on October 31. “We appreciate the trouble he took us to inform about the crack and we will felicitate him for his noble work,” Konkan Railway PRO Sudha Krishnamurthy told media.

Comments

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me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme?
Exceptional work!

Shameless liar. Don’t you feel shy to tell such lies? He doesn’t even know what is sangh parivar. He is an honest coolie worker. I know him very well. He had worked for me also.

Naren Kotian
 - 
Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018

A big salute to Krishna Poojary, a proud karyakartha of Sangh Parivar. This teaching of Sangh parivar is behind this noble deed. Sadly newsportals like CD hide the fact that he is a Sangh Parivar worker.

Sandeep Ullal
 - 
Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018

True humanity. 

Subbu Acharya
 - 
Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018

Wow.. great. he deseves highest award for his effort

Shahjahan, Ma…
 - 
Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018

I fully agree with Sri Vasantha Bangera. Sri Poojary deserves award not less than the award of Karnataka Rajyotsava for his heroic act.

Mahesh
 - 
Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018

The Great Indian Man!,...

Vasantha Bangera
 - 
Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018

He deserves Rajyotsava award and a huge reward. Not just felicitation by railways. It is the responsibility of the Udupi district administration and elected representatives to recognise this noble man.

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News Network
May 12,2020

Mangaluru, May 12: Two people hailing from Udupi district tested positive for covid-19 today. The sources of this infection is said to be Mangaluru's First Neuro Hospital.

Fresh bulletin from health and family welfare department revealed that a 52-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man from Karkala in Udupi were tested positive for the deadly coronavirus.

Among them, the woman had undergone treatment at the First Neuro Hospital. She is said to have contracted the infection from P-507 who was also was tested positive  April 27. And the youth was in touch with the woman.

The duo have not visited their home in Karkala for past few days. They were in quarantine and tested positive while being admitted at the same hospital.

With this the total number of COVID-19 cases found in Dakshina Kannada district are 33 now. Three among them have died and 14 have been discharged. Now, the district has 16 active coronavirus cases.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 4: With the number of Coronavirus positive cases in India increasing, health department officials in Karnataka are working round the clock to keep citizens safe.

But citizens are already panicking with 97 people in Bengaluru rushing to the government-run Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Chest Diseases (RGICD) on Tuesday with symptoms matching the coronavirus.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has now appealed for calm saying there is no coronavirus in the state.

"There is a difference in what appears in the media and what is on the ground. No need to panic. PM Modi is also looking into this. My health minister addressed the media and no one needs to panic. We are ready to tackle the situation," he added.

Dr. Nagaraj, director of RGICD, said the screening process began at the hospital on January 22 and they would see some 15-20 patients and take 5-6 swabs.

"Because of apprehensions, we saw 978 patients and took 27 swabs. We have also admitted 4 patients in the isolation ward," he added.

As of today, there are 5 patients admitted in the isolation ward of RGICD. Two came in close contact with the infected techie in Telengana and three foreign nationals from Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

Tech parks on high alert

At the Manyata Tech Park in the city, a company sent out a circular regarding one of their associates who had travelled from a Level 3 country to India and had flu-like symptoms.

It says that the associate was advised to receive necessary screening and observation as mandated by the Karnataka State Health Department. The associate was screened by an authorized medical agency and determined to be asymptomatic.

As of Wednesday, the company located in the G3 campus of Manyata Tech Park has begun disinfecting and sanitizing the work location and all associates working out of this location have been advised to work from home until March 6.

A statement issued by Embassy spokesperson on March 4 to India Today TV indicated the authorities have activated their response plan.

"As of March 4, we are not aware of a single positive case for the virus in more than 2,00,000 people who work in our business parks. We do understand that one employee of a company at one of our parks who had travelled from a Level 3 country was screened in the last 36 hours and determined to be asymptomatic.

As a precaution, the premises are being disinfected and sanitized. The fact remains, we are not aware of a single confirmed case within over 15 business parks across India," the statement said.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 5: The Karnataka government has constituted a competent authority for I Monetary Advisory (IMA) cases under the KPIDFE (Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments) Act, 2004, which is required to call claims from erstwhile depositors of the IMA group of entities under the provisions of the Act, said Harsh Gupta, Special Officer and Competent Authority for IMA cases.

In order to ensure transparency and to avoid harassment to the claimants, an online application software has been developed for accepting claims from the depositors, Gupta stated.

"The claim application can be filed from any of Banglore-1, Karnataka-1 and Seva-Sindhu Kendras of the state government in person or through online. The required documents can be submitted using e-attestation along with claims or at a later date, but prior to the claim settlement. The details of authorities for e-attestation will be informed later," the official stated.

The claimants will have to provide Aadhaar authentication based identification or identification by the designated officer based on alternate documents; current mobile number and address among others.

The details of the draft claim filing process has been put for public feedback on website 'imaclaims.karnataka.gov.in'. The depositors can give their feedback on the website, WhatsApp number or email, Gupta stated.

Based on feedback received from the depositors, the claim process and the claim application software will be finalised, the official said and further informed that the start date for acceptance of claims will be informed through wide publicity at a later date.

"There will be a total time period of 30 days for submission of the claims from the start date of acceptance of claims," Gupta said.

An SIT was investigating the multi-crore IMA Jewels case, where the firm had allegedly cheated a large number of investors after promising them impressive returns on their deposits. The SIT has already arrested several government officials and questioned others including politicians in the matter.

The prime accused and Managing Director of IMA Mohammed Mansoor Khan, who had fled the country after several complaints were registered against him in connection with the scam, has also been arrested.

The state government had constituted an SIT to probe the scam when it first came to light in June earlier this year when more than 4,000 investors trooped outside the showroom after an audio clip purportedly recorded by Khan went viral.

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