Author: Nagpur Updates

Nagpur: The Nagpur Central Railway Division’s decision to run 12289-90 Nagpur-Mumbai-Nagpur Duronto Express from Ajni has come in for sharp criticism from the body of rail users and members of the public.

BJP MLA from Central Nagpur Vikas Kumbhare said the decision is not in people’s interest, particularly traders who prefer this train because of the few stops and convenient timings. “From Nagpur, four assembly segments from the town are gained. I’ll give my report to the divisional railway manager (DRM) on Monday, “he said.

“Some traders have protested to me calling for the train to be rolling back from platform number 8 as before. It is easier for them to enter the station side of Santra Market instead of Ajni where there is always logjam when they arrive and board the train, “said Kumbhare.
“If the railways want to run more Ajni trains, it should continue with lower-occupancy passenger trains,” he said.

Rail Yatri Sangh (RYS) passenger body president Brijbhushan Shukla submitted a memorandum to DRM Somesh Kumar on Wednesday requesting train service from Nagpur. “Diverting these luxury trains from Ajni will not only diminish the Nagpur station’s significance but is also inconvenient for passengers,” he said in a statement.

On 9 February Central Railway suddenly began running the Ajni train for three months until May. Beginning January 8, Duronto, which used to run beginning home platform number 8 on the Santra Market side, was temporarily moved to Ajni because of washable apron work on platform number 1 at the main station. Nevertheless, the train was moved to Ajni even as work on the apron was completed.

Shukla said separate DRMs promised to give Ajni facelift by building two more platforms, two pitline FOBs, enhanced passenger amenities, etc. However, despite an increase in train numbers, Ajni was not developed over the years.

“Now plans are in the pipeline to build Ajni as an intermodel station by road transport ministry and Central Railway. The project will however take at least five years to complete. We can’t afford to run premium Ajni trains till then, “Shukla said.

Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC) Railway committee convener Pratap Motwani too opposed the move. “Railway officials are citing disputes with Sevagram Express and other trains over Duronto timings, but how far are trains on time?”Ajni station is overcrowded and lacks waiting rooms, adequate toilets, food stalls, required ramps, lifts, escalators, protection, facilities for moving different passengers and enough parking. Passengers face many obstacles. We’ll write to the railways on the issue and speak with the highways minister Nitin Gadkari, “he added.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) posted a tribute tweet on Friday, one year after 40 of its troops were killed in a car bomb attack in Pulwama.

In a tweet posted at 12 a.m., the CRPF said they had not forgiven or forgotten the attack.

“The songs of your bravery are not lost in the loud noise / We were so proud that we haven’t been weeping for a long time,” the power tweeted in Hindi.

“We did not forge, we did not forge: we salute our brothers who sacrificed their lives in the name of the nation of Pulwama. Indebted, we stand with the families of our courageous martyrs, “he added in English.

The Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber targeted the CPRF convoy on February 14, 2019, on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, killing 40 people in the Pulwama district.

Tensions erupted between India and Pakistan following an attack on a convoy of 78 busses, in which some 2,500 CRPF personnel travelled from Jammu to Srinagar.

“I sense the same fire in my heart that rages within you,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 17, days after the attack.

A day before, he had said that “all tears will be avenged” and that the armed forces were granted “complete freedom to decide the place, time, strength and essence of the enemy’s revenge.”

The Pulwama attack led India to launch an airstrike on 26 February 2019 against a militant base in Pakistan, which was retaliated a day later. After an air war, Pakistan captured and later released an Indian pilot.

The United Nations and several countries have condemned the Pulwama terrorist attack and extended their assistance to India in the fight against terrorism.

Pakistan’s “all-weather ally,” China, also supported the UN Security Council resolution on the “heinous and cowardly” Pulwama terror attack, which was overwhelmingly adopted by permanent and non-permanent member countries of the global body.

India has also launched robust diplomatic efforts to establish JeM Chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after the attack. It was classified as a global terrorist on 1 May 2019, when China lifted its legal hold on the initiative put forward by the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the 1267 Committee of the United Nations Security Council.

On Thursday, a senior official said that a memorial to the CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terrorist attack in February last year would be inaugurated at the Lethpora camp on Friday.

The names of all 40 staff members, along with their memories, will be part of the memorial. It will also reflect the motto of the CRPF— Seva our Nishtha’ (Service and Loyalty).

NAGPUR: The number of seats available this year in the RTE pool in the Nagpur district will be 700 fewer, based on the data available after the last school registration date ended Monday. No specific reason could be given by the department of education for the decline, but it seems that low enrolment has forced schools to lower intake capacity, while some may not have registered to protest the pending RTE charge.

This decrease in the number of seats available will not impact admissions, as 50% of the RTE seats remained vacant in Nagpur last year.

Although many schools have boycotted the registration process, the department of education does have an online software override feature in which their data are automatically filled in.

For this, the algorithm looks at the data from the previous year and fills in the registration forms for the current year and completes the registration process.
Shahid Sharif, an educational activist who focuses on RTE, said, “One thing is clear, there is no contact between the department of education and schools.

The boycott is linked to their big pending bills for colleges, though a certain amount has recently been issued. But what this whole debacle means is that students don’t get their rightful due. “Rajendra Dayma, chairman of the Independent English Schools Association (IESA), said,” Let them auto-register us because it won’t affect our determination to boycott the method.

Then parents have to come to the school to complete formalities after the online lottery, and then we will reveal the farce being carried out by the education department. “He added that each parent will receive a comprehensive letter about their RTE boycott. “In that letter, it will be clearly stated that admissions can not occur since we never agreed to put the name of our school in the database,” Dayma said.

IESA is now organizing a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of their RTE boycott. Dayma said, “We’re going to be in Nagpur next week for a press conference, after which we’re going to leave for other cities throughout the state. Parents must be made aware of the inequality being perpetrated on private schools.’

Nagpur: Referring to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench on Tuesday dismissed Manohar Dabrase’s election petition under the People’s Act, 1951, questioning the former’s victory at Lok Sabha polls held in May of last year.

Dabrase, who was one of the contestants, had prayed to declare victory null and void for city MP claiming non-compliance with separate legislative provisions.

Gadkari had opposed the petition arguing that no cause of action for finding his election invalid had been revealed. He also pointed out that Dabrase’s appeal to justify his claims that the poll result was adversely influenced was lacking in material facts.

“In the absence of proof of non-compliance by the petitioner under the provisions of the Indian Constitution or the provisions of the People’s Representation Act or any rules/orders set out therein, thus adversely affecting the election result for the respondent, the petition is liable to be summarily dismissed without trial,” held Justice Atul Chandurka

The final vote count didn’t match, according to the petitioner, and there was a significant difference in the grand total, showing 786 more votes than the total votes polled. The disparity between tallied and counted votes has been unexplained. Therefore, it was impossible to trust the electronic voting machines (EVMs), Dabrase had claimed

The petitioner had earlier claimed that about 11.86 lakh exercised their franchise in the May polls out of more than 19 lakh voters. Gadkari had secured 6.60 lakh while Dabrase polled 26,128 votes and held his seat.