Train accidents: Railways minister ‘offers to resign’, PM asks him ‘to wait’

Agencies
August 23, 2017

New Delhi, Aug 23: Railways minister Suresh Prabhu indicated on Wednesday that he's offered to resign after taking "moral responsibility" for two recent train accidents, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked "me to wait".

Prabhu said he's "extremely pained" by the two train derailments in Uttar Pradesh, one on Tuesday and the other last week.

In Tuesday's Kafiyat Express derailment, 70-plus passengers were reportedly injured. In the Utkal Express derailment on Saturday, over 22 people died and scores were injured.

"It has caused me deep anguish," tweeted Prabhu on Wednesday afternoon.

He added that he's devoted his "blood, sweat and tears" in his three years as Railways minister and undertaken several reforms.

India, Prabhu said, deserved a modern railway system.

He said that under PM Modi, there have been "unprecedented investments" in the Indian Railways.

On Sunday, the railway ministry sent on leave top officials including a member of the railway board for the Utkal Express derailment.

Stung by the accident and criticism of opposition parties, the ministry sent member (engineering) railway board Aditya Kumar Mittal, general manager (GM) Northern Railways R K Kulshrestha and divisional railway manager (DRM) R N Singh on leave till further orders.

Mittal was going to retire at the end of this month, but the strict action will send signal to top officials about zero tolerance towards accidents.

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News Network
July 14,2020

Brasilia, Jul 14: Brazil has reported new 20,286 coronavirus cases in last 24 hours taking the country's total to 1.8 million, Sputnik reported citing the health ministry.

The country's death toll has increased by 733 in the same period of time. The death toll from the infection has touched 72,833.

Over 1.1 million people have recovered from COVID-19 in Brazil since the start of the epidemic in the country, according to the health ministry.

Brazil has the second-highest coronavirus death toll, it is surpassed only by the United States.

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News Network
March 6,2020

New Delhi, Mar 6: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday will move the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha.

In December last year, the Union Cabinet had approved a proposal to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016.

The amendments will remove certain ambiguities in the IBC 2016 and ensure smooth implementation of the code, an official statement said.

The move is aimed at easing the insolvency resolution process and promoting the ease of doing business. Aimed at streamlining of the insolvency resolution process, the amendments seek to protect last-mile funding and boost investment in financially-distressed sectors.

Under the amendments, the liability of a corporate debtor for an offence committed before the corporate insolvency resolution process will cease.

The debtor will not be prosecuted for an offence from the date the resolution plan has been approved by the adjudicating authority if a resolution plan results in change in the management or control of the corporate debtor to a person who was not a promoter or in the management or control of the corporate debtor or a related party of such a person.

The amendments are aimed at providing more protection to bidders participating in the recovery proceedings and in turn boosting investor confidence in the country's financial system.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Kabul, Jan 27: A passenger plane crashed on Monday in a Taliban-held area of Afghanistan's Ghazni province, local officials said.

Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the plane went down around 1:10 p.m. local time in Deh Yak district, which is held by the Taliban. Two provincial council members also confirmed the crash.

The number of people on board and their fate was not immediately known, nor was the cause of the crash.

Ariana Airlines, Afghanistan's national carrier, dismissed the claim that one of their planes had crashed in a statement on their website, saying all their aircraft were operational and safe.

The mountainous Ghazni province sits in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains and is bitterly cold in winter.

The last major commercial air crash in Afghanistan occurred in 2005 when a Kam Air flight from western Herat to the capital Kabul crashed into the mountains as it tried to land in snowy weather.

The war however has seen a number of deadly crashes of military aircraft. One of the most spectacular occurred in 2013 when an American Boeing 747 cargo jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Bagram air base north of Kabul en route to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. All seven crew member were killed.

Afghanistan's aviation industry suffered desperately during the rule of the Taliban when its only airline Ariana was subject to punishing sanctions and allowed to fly only to Saudi Arabia for Hajj flights.

Since the overthrow of the religious regime smaller private airlines have emerged but the industry is still a nascent one.

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