According to one of the passengers Priyabrata Majhi, the passengers were panicked as the aircraft started shaking and passengers complained of vomiting. Though the pilot declared emergency landing in Delhi Airport, it took them 45 minutes before finally landing in Jaipur, he added.
The craft, however, hovered over Delhi Airport for around 45 minutes. No reaction has been received from the airport authorities and the air carrier till the report was filed.
Reports said a private bus ‘Karishma’ (OR-15-R-0988) was on the way to Sambalpur from Sonepur when the driver lost control of the vehicle which overturned near Phulamuthi Chhak on Sonepur-Binika road and fell into a paddy field.
Following information, police rushed to the spot and rescued 16 injured passengers. While 15 passengers were admitted to government hospital at Binikia, the seriously injured passenger was shifted to Sonepur District Headquarters Hospital as his condition became critical.
Reports said a private bus, Hara-Parvati, was on its way to Talcher from Telkoi when the driver lost control of the bus, which skidded off the road and hit the wall of a culvert at Turadanali.
The incident took place at about 8 AM.
Soon after the incident, locals rushed to the spot and rescued the injured passengers from the bus and admitted them to Mahabirod Community Health Centre (CHC).
The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has appealed to the passengers to book the reserved tickets for a comfortable journey to Puri for the Rath Yatra Festival.
As per the decision taken by the Railways, 08911/08912 Junagarh Road/Bhawanipatna-Puri-Bhawanipatna Rath Yatra Special Express via Sambalpur and Talcher Road will have three AC-3 tiers, nine Sleeper Classes, 4 Second Class Seating and two guard-cum-luggage vans from both the directions.
08913/08914 Kendujhargarh-Puri-Kendujhargarh Rath Yatra Special Express will have 10 Sleeper Class Coaches and four Second Class Seating and guard-cum-luggage vans from both the directions.
08925/08926 Jagadalpur-Puri-Jagadalpur Rath Yatra Special via Rayagada and Vizianagaram will have two AC-3 tiers, six Sleeper Classes, four Second Class Seating and two guard-cum-luggage vans from both the directions.
08917/08918 Bhadrak-Puri-Bhadrak Rath Yatra Special via Cuttack will have two AC Chair Car, 14 Second Class Chair Cars and two guard-cum-luggage vans from both the directions.
12891/12892 Bangiriposi-Bhubaneswar-Bangiriposi Express has been extended to Puri during the period having 10 Second Class Chair Cars, two Second Class Seating and two guard-cum-luggage vans in its composition.
08938/08937 Puri-Sambalpur-Puri Rath Yatra Special via Naraj Marthapur and Talcher Road will have three AC-3 tier compartments, nine Sleeper Classes, four Second Class Seating and two guard-cum-luggage vans from both the directions.
Trains originating from Malda Town and Howrah/Santragachhi (Kolkata) towards Puri will run with complete reserved accommodation, an ECoR release said.
“Authorities are hopeful that this will ensure clean railway stations and toilets,” a senior WR official said.
“A dedicated staff has been deputed round-the-clock to handle such complaints,” he said.
Under the initiative, the Western Railway has introduced a dedicated WhatsApp number - 9004499733 - on which passengers can send pictures and report about the unclean condition of the Mumbai suburban stations, the official said.
“Efforts will be made to immediately attend to the area concerned and address the grievance. This will be an additional monitoring mechanism in addition to inspections already being carried out by station masters and other officers,” he said.
The WR has also introduced such WhatsApp numbers in its five divisions of Vadodara (9724091426), Ahmedabad (9724093981), Bhavnagar (9724097967), Rajkot (9724094983) and Ratlam (9752492970).
WR’s Chief PRO Ravinder Bhakar said, “1,068 coaches of its various trains are dry swept daily while 120 coaches are cleaned with the help of machines.”
The cleaning of rakes costs about Rs 6.5 crore per year, he added.
The Jet Airways flight 9W 730 departed from Terminal-3 at the IGI at 2.30 p.m but "due to non availability of taxi way" at the Patna Airport the flight was diverted to Varanasi. However, the flight landed back at Terminal-3 at 9.30 p.m, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Bhatia said.
The facility, recently put into effect, will cover all zones in a phased manner, they said.
"The vendor will have a POS machine with pre-loaded software showing the passenger the menu as well as the prices. These cannot be fiddled with," a senior official said.
The prices will be fixed and passengers can pay for their meals with their cards, he added.
"This gives passengers three advantages - the food will be from an authorised vendor, they will get the meal at a fixed price and would not have to worry about giving the exact amount in cash," the official said.
The trains where such POS machines -- electronic devices used to process card payments -- have been provided include the Karnataka Express which runs between Bengaluru City and New Delhi, the Jammu Tawi-Kolkata Sealdah Express and Telengana Express running between Hyderabad and New Delhi.
The service will also be available on the Aravali Express which runs between Jaipur Junction and Mumbai.
The Railways at present has 76 POS machines and is now assessing on which trains they can be used, another official said.
The decision to introduce such hand-held devices was taken after the ministry received complaints from passengers about being over-charged for food, they said.
The Railways plans to provide each rake of a train with two POS machines to start with and then increase the numbers according to usage and the response from passengers.
The IRCTC is also deploying its officials on-board these trains to monitor the catering services. They are being provided with tablets to be used for collecting passenger feedback, it said.
The service providers managing the on-board services are also being trained at the IRCTC central kitchen at Noida for using POS machines, they said.
New Delhi: Union minister Piyush Goyal today said the flexi fare scheme of the Railways, which helped it earn an additional Rs 540 crore in less than a year, may be amended to ensure that it brings in revenues without taxing passengers.
"People have brought to my notice the issue of the flexi fare scheme. It could be made better in a way that it does not hurt people's (pockets) and also meets the revenue target," Goyal told reporters here.
He was responding to question on whether he had reviewed the flexi fare scheme after taking charge of the ministry earlier this month.
Asked if there could be any amendment to the scheme, Goyal said, "There is a possibility of making some change".
The scheme, launched on September 9 last year and applicable to premium trains such as the Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto, allows 10 per cent of the seats to be sold at normal fare and thereafter increasing it in phases by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold, with a ceiling of a 50 per cent rise.
The Railways earned an additional revenue of Rs 540 crore from September 2016 to June 2017 through the scheme, its data show.
The minister said the railways was also working to ensure efficient and faster services.
"It is proposed to increase the speed of around 700 trains with effect from November 1, 2017. This exercise will help in converting 48 Mail Express trains to the Super Fast Express category," he said.
He said all stations and trains will have high speed wi- fi connectivity, but did not specify when this would be implemented.
To ensure transparency, all Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff and Travel Ticket Examiners (TTEs) will be in proper uniform while on duty, Goyal said.
The RPF staff will not check tickets, which is the function of the TTEs, but they will assist ticket checking squads, he said.
He added that India's space research body, ISRO, had offered to map all railway assets.
"We also plan to eliminate 5,000 unmanned level crossings in a time-bound manner," Goyal added.
This is the second train robbery since last week in Jamui district.
The dacoity took place on the Chapra-Tata Express, near Kiul railway station in Jamui. The Kiul-Jasidih section in Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) is considered the worst Maoist-affected area.
"About 20 armed criminals took a cabin man hostage at gun point and forced him to
show the red signal to stop the train. Thereafter, they looted the passengers in four compartments," a railway police official said.
Agitated over the failure of the Government Railway Police's (GRP) escort party deployed on the train to thwart the robbery, hundreds of passengers staged a protest at the district's Jhajha railway station, about 70 km from Kiul station.
A probe has been launched into the actions of the GRP escort party when the criminals looted the passengers.
"We will take action against the escort party if found guilty," Arun Kumar Dubey, a railway police official, said, adding that an FIR has been lodged at the Jhajha police station.
Over a dozen train robberies have been reported in Bihar in the last six months.
When symptoms of some passengers worsened, authorities halted the train at Bokaro railway station in Jharkhand for immediate medial aid. Subsequently, some irate passengers created a ruckus demanding action against the staff responsible for the incident.
Later, senior officials reached the spot and held discussions with the agitating passengers. The train services resumed after a delay of nearly an hour. The Railways has set up a probe to look into the matter.
According to sources, services of around 30 government buses were suspended due to the protest today.The employees have threatened to continue the strike till their demands are not fulfilled.
"Our main demand is clearance of pending salaries since April and also other arrears. We have not even received dearness allowance. Many employees are facing difficulty as admissions into colleges are underway. Some of us don't even have enough money to pay rent," said an OSRTC employee.
The OSRTC employees had planned to launch the stir on July 2, however, they decided to postpone it due to Rath Yatra, informed another protesting staff.
As per schedule, Bhubaneswar-Nayagarh Sewa Express 18423 will depart Bhubaneswar station at 6.40 pm and reach Nayagarh at 8.45 PM daily. Similarly, the up train will leave Nayagarh station at 6.30 AM and reach Bhubaneswar at 9 AM.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Puri MP Pinaki Mishra who attended the flagging off ceremony thanked the railway minister for introducing the train.
"I sincerely I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for introducing the train to Nayagarh, which is one of the important places of our State," said Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
"It is matter of great joy that people can travel from Nayagarh to Bhubaneswar with only Rs 45. They can finish their official works and return home in the evening. This will benefit the people of both Nayagarh and Bhubaneswar. I thank the East Coast Railway for this initiative," said Puri MP Pinaki Mishra.
In view of introduction of the daily Sewa Express, the timings of passenger trains running between Khurda Road junction and Nayagarh Town station have been revised.
As per the revised timings, 58431 Khurda Road-Nayagarh Town Passenger will leave Khurda Road at 8.20 am instead of earlier timings at 7.15 am and will reach Nayagarh Town at 9.45 AM instead of 8.55 AM. In the return direction, 58432 Nayagarh Town-Khurda Road passenger will leave Nayagarh Town at 10 am instead of earlier timings at 9.20 AM and will reach Khurda Road at 11.45 AM instead of earlier timing at 11.05 AM.
Similarly, 58429 Khurda Road-Nayagarh Town Passenger will leave Khurda Road at 8.15 PM instead of earlier timings at 7.30 PM and will reach Nayagarh Town at 9.40 PM instead of earlier timings at 9.10 PM. In the return direction, the timings of 58430 Nayagarh Town-Khurda Road passenger will remain unchanged. This train will leave Nayagarh Town at 5 AM and will reach Khurda Road at 6.45 AM.
"The Sewa Express will help office goers from rural areas who travel to cities. They can board the train in the morning and return home after attending their offices," said Rajkumar, additional divisional railway manager (ADRM) of Khurda.
"We are extremely happy that our long standing demand for a direct train between Bhubaneswar and Nayagarh has been now fulfilled," said a resident of Nayagarh.
At around 09:10 AM, Air India flight AI 77 was diverted to Kolkata after hovering around the city airport as it was unable to land at the airport in view of the inclement weather. Not only the Air India, some other flights belonging to IndiGo, AirAsia and Vistara flying from Kolkata also had to return.
Following the diversion of flights, passengers flying to and from Bhubaneswar had to face hardship. However, after improvement in the weather conditions, all the flights landed at the BPIA.
Here are the following points:
For cancellation of unreserved, RAC and waitlisted tickets, the cancellation charges are Rs 30 for unreserved (second class) and Rs 60 for second class (reserved) and other classes.
(i) If confirmed reserved tickets are cancelled 48 hours before the train’s scheduled departure, cancellation charge for 1st AC/executive class is Rs 240; 2nd AC/first class is Rs 200; 3rd AC/ACC/3A economy is Rs 180; 2nd sleeper class is Rs 120 & 2nd class is Rs 60.
(ii) If confirmed reserved tickets are cancelled between 48 hours and 12 hours before the train’s scheduled departure, cancellation charge will become 25% subject to minimum charge according to (i)
(iii) In case confirmed reserved tickets are cancelled between 12 hours and 4 hours before the train’s scheduled departure, cancellation charge will be 50% subject to minimum charge according to (i)
(iv) Refund is provided on partially confirmed tickets up to 30 minutes before the train’s scheduled departure
(v) Refund on unused RAC/WL tickets is provided to 30 minutes before the train’s scheduled departure subject to reduction of clerkage charge.
(vi) Automatic refund will be granted for e-ticket cancellation
(vii) There is no permission for cancellation of CNF/RAC ticket booked in premium special trains. The ticket, however, can be cancelled only if the train is cancelled. In those cases, refund is granted by PRS system.
In an exclusive report, OTV found out that only two passengers travel in the train which leaves from Bolangir at 6 AM every day and covers a distance of 19 kilometres to reach its destination at Bicchupali station at around 6:25 AM.
“We generally travel in bus. Today we saw you (OTV representatives) and got some courage to board this train,” Ghanshyam Rana, a passenger said.
As shocking as it may sound, while Rs 3.5 lakh is spent by the Indian Railways every month on Bichhupali- Bolangir train service, the total earning is around Rs 600. These numbers were revealed by the responses to an RTI query.
“The Railways should extend the line from Bicchupali to Sonepur and save this nation from financial losses,” said Hemant Panda, who had filed the RTI plea.
Almost a year back, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the Bichhupali Railway station and the Bichhupali-Bolangir railway line, but till now the route has not been extended beyond Bichhupali.
While some local residents have demanded extension of the railway line to Sonepur and Boudh, others are demanding immediate withdrawal of the train.
“The Khurda-Bolangir railway line has remained a dream. Nobody knows when it will be extended beyond Bichhupali,” said a local resident, Mukesh Rana.
As per reports, three railway employees are engaged on the train every day while four employees handle functioning of the Bichhupali station.
As per reports, the passengers were returning to shore in a fishing boat after picnicking in Kalijai Island when the mishap occurred.
With the help of another boat which was also returning from Kalijai, all passengers were rescued from the waters. Out of them seven people were ferried to the shore and later rushed to Balugaon Community Health Centre in critical condition. Later two of them were shifted to Berhampur MKCG Hospital.
As per latest reports, the passengers are residents of Badakul and Chandrapur.
It may be noted that boat mishaps in Chilika is not new as such incidents had occurred in the lake several times in the past.
On June 16, 2018, a boat carrying as many as 17 passengers including 15 tourists from Bhubaneswar and Nayagarh capsized in Chilika Lake leaving six persons dead.
Similarly, four persons including two children were killed when a boat with as many as 29 members of a family and their relatives of Sabulia village on way to Ghantasila capsized in the lake.
OTV had reported how due to irregularities in functioning of floating bridge service (vessel to carry people and cargo), people risk their lives to travel to their respective destinations in country-made boats in Chilika.
https://youtu.be/sPkNkDyneAc
As per reports, 22844 Patna-Bilaspur weekly Superfast Express didn’t halt at the designated stoppage at Rajgangpur at 12:47 PM and kept moving towards Bilaspur leaving passengers who had to disembark at Rajgangpur in a tizzy.
Bewildered relatives and friends who were waiting for the train at Rajgangpur station were left perplexed as the superfast express stopped at Garposh station nearly 15 kms away.
Ajay Kumar Singh, the relative of an elderly passenger travelling in that train said, “My grandfather was coming from Patna and he should have got down here in Rajgangpur, instead the train stopped at Garposh.”
“I can’t communicate with my grandfather. I don’t know whether he got down at Garposh or went ahead,” added an anxious Ajay.
Similarly, another passenger named Deepak Thakur described his ordeal as ‘horrific’. He said, “Me and my 80-year-old uncle suffered a lot due to this. The Railway officials at Garposh didn’t help us.”
Taking stern note of the incident, Chakradharpur DRM suspended Rajgangpur station master on charges of dereliction of duty.
A senior railway ministry official told IANS, "Aarogya Setu application is mandatory for all passengers travelling by the Special AC trains." He said it has been made mandatory by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Indian Railways shared the link of downloading the mobile application on its Twitter handle on Monday night.
The official also said that as per the MHA guidelines, on arrival at their destination, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as are prescribed by the destination state or the union territory. "Before commencing journey, passengers are advised to check their destination state regarding all such protocols," the ministry said in a tweet.
The railways has asked the passengers to arrive at the railway station 90 minutes prior to the departure of the train. Thermal screening of passengers will be done before they will be allowed to enter the station premises.
The official said that wearing masks has been made mandatory. Passengers have been encouraged to carry their own blankets, water and food for the travel. The national transporter has set special norms for air-conditioning inside the coaches and temperatures will be kept slightly higher than the usual. The official said that the Special trains will run at full capacity, but railway zones have been instructed to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at stations to the extent feasible so that there is no face-to-face movement or contact of passengers.
For now, the railways has issued a time table for trains to be run between May 12 and May 20. They will run as daily, weekly or bi-weekly trains. These trains will run between New Delhi and all major cities across the country: Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.
The Indian Railways has suspended the passenger, mail and express train services since March 25 amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19. Only freight and special parcel trains were running to ensure the supply of the essential items across the country. From May 1, the railways started running the Shramik Special trains to transport the stranded migrant workers, students, pilgrims and tourists from several states. Till date the railways has run over 513 Shramik Special trains and transported over six lakh people.
(IANS)
As notified by the Union Ministry, before boarding, all travellers shall give an undertaking that they would undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days of which seven days are paid institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by seven days isolation at home with self-monitoring of health. In exceptional and compelling cases including human distress, pregnancy, death in the family, serious illness and parent(s) accompanied by children below 10 years, home quarantine may be permitted for 14 days.
The passengers shall receive the list of dos and don'ts along with ticket from the concerned agencies. Apart from abiding the quarantine rules, using Aarogya Setu app in their respective mobile phones shall be mandatory in such cases. Only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board the flight after the thermal screening.
Passengers arriving through the land borders will also have to undergo the same protocol and only those who are asymptomatic will be allowed to cross the border into India.
A self-declaration form in duplicate shall be filled by the person in the flight or ship and a copy of the same will be given to health and immigration officials present at the airport, seaport, land port. The form may also be made available on AarogyaSetu app, the guidelines said.
Apart from the sanitization and disinfection of airports and flights along with maintenance of social distancing norms, the ministry has also suggested wearing masks, environmental hygiene, respiratory hygiene, hand hygiene among others for airline and ship crew and all passengers.
On arrival, thermal screening would be carried out in respect of all the passengers by the health officials present at the airport, seaport and land port.
The passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated and taken to a medical facility as per health protocol and remaining passengers shall be taken to suitable institutional quarantine facilities, to be arranged by the respective state and union territory governments.
In case of someone found to be coronavirus positive, they shall be assessed clinically, the guidelines said. If they are assessed as mild cases, they will be allowed home isolation or isolated in the COVID Care Centre, either public and private facilities, as appropriate.
"Those having moderate or severe symptoms will be admitted to dedicated COVID Health facilities and managed accordingly," it said.
The guidelines come as India is likely to open up inbound international travel in the next couple of months. All international travel has been suspended for over two months now as India went into lockdown in March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Domestic travel resumes on Monday, although with limited operations. Further, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said that international flight operations from India might commence from July depending upon the circumstances surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak.
During an online question and answer session, the minister said: "If the situation eases and improves, by that I mean if the virus behaves in a predictable manner, we get used to the idea of being able to coexist with the virus and we are in a position to make arrangements."
"So far, the 'Vande Bharat' mission has moved very well and I am confident that when domestic flights start, they will also proceed very well... So why not start (international flights) by June middle or June end or July," he added.
Centre's 'Vande Bharat' mission to bring back stranded Indians from foreign land through aircraft and ships, however, is underway and more people will be brought back home under the initiative.
(With Agency inputs)
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