Dumper falls on railway tracks in UP's Barabanki; train services disrupted
Barabanki (UP) (PTI): A loaded dumper broke through the railing of an overbridge, and plunged nearly 25 feet onto the railway track near Burhwal junction, leaving the driver seriously injured and disrupting train movement in the area, officials said on Thursday.
The impact of the fall on Wednesday night snapped overhead electric wires on the rail tracks, causing the Amritsar-Saharsa Garib Rath Express to halt abruptly.
Passengers reported hearing a loud explosion, prompting the loco pilot to apply emergency brakes.
Superintendent of Police Arpit Vijayvargiya said no train passenger was injured.
"The dumper, loaded with plywood, fell onto the tracks. The driver was seriously injured and has been admitted to the hospital," he said.
The dumper driver was rescued after cutting open the cabin and was rushed to the district hospital, where his condition remains critical.
Railway officials and local police reached the spot shortly after receiving the alert.
It took nearly two hours to clear the debris and remove the dumper from the tracks, during which several trains were halted at nearby stations. The Garib Rath Express was stranded for about two hours, rail officials said.
Burhwal Junction Railway Protection Force in-charge Ravi Kumar said the train movement resumed only after the damaged wires were repaired and the track was cleared.
Rail services gradually returned to normal after the two-hour disruption.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
