New Delhi, April 23: Services on the Delhi Metro's Red Line (Dilshad Garden-Rithala) were suspended for more than one hour on Monday after heavy smoke from a nearby blaze made it difficult for the trains to run, the DMRC said.
"At 1.15 p.m., heavy smoke was reported to have originated from the nearby slums beneath the viaduct between Mansarovar Park and Shahdara Metro stations. As a precautionary measure, train services were suspended between three stations between Dilshad Garden and Mansarovar Park Metro stations during this period," said the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in a statement.
"Rest of the line remained unaffected. At 2.33 p.m., normal services were resumed after due clearances," it added.
The smoke was due to a major fire incident which occurred at a building in nearby Shashi Garden of Gandhi Nagar. Two men were killed in the massive blaze that had broken out at around 11 p.m. on Sunday in the three-storey establishment housing a jeans factory.
"Although our metro train system is fire-proof, we could not take chances and run the trains through smoke, which could have hampered the visibility as well. We suspended the operations the moment it occurred to us that it could pose some threat," a metro official told here.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
