Lucknow, July 9: Northern Railway officials were left in a state of panic after a red signal at Moradabad division did not turn green, leading to several trains from the east getting taking unprecedented halts. The faux pas was caused on Friday night after the station master at Murshadpur got "heavily drunk" and fell asleep.
RPF personnel, along with the station master of the neighbouring stop was rushed to the Murshadpur station to ascertain the reason behind the signal not being lifted. On their arrival, they found Deep Singh, the station master, sleeping with liquor bottles in the vicinity.
Singh was rushed to the government hospital where a test was conducted. High-level of alcohol was detected in his blood. Based on the medical report, the Northern Railways has suspended him for dereliction of duty. An inquiry has been ordered against him, confirmed a senior official.
"Such kind of behaviour on duty is unacceptable. There is zero tolerance level for this. We will take the strictest action," the official was reported as saying.
Among trains which were delayed include those plying on the Howrah-Jammu and Howrah-Dehradun routes, reports said. The trains resumed only after another station master took charge.
courtesy : latestly.com
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Guwahati (PTI): Polling for all 126 Assam assembly constituencies began on Thursday to decide the electoral fate of 722 candidates, officials said.
In the high-stakes election, the ruling BJP is aiming for a third consecutive term in office, while the Congress seeks to wrest power after being ousted in 2016.
Polling, being held in a single phase, began at 7 am and will conclude at 5 pm. Long queues of voters were seen outside polling stations from early morning.
An electorate of 2.50 crore, including 1.25 crore women and 318 from the third gender, can exercise their franchise in 31,490 polling stations across the state.
Prominent candidates include Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Congress state president Gaurav Gogoi, assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, Leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi, and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi.
Several cabinet ministers, including the AGP’s Atul Bora and Keshav Mahanta, and the BPF’s Charan Boro are also in the fray.
The Congress has the highest of 99 contestants, followed by the BJP (90), AIUDF (30), NDA allies AGP (26) and BPF (11).
Opposition alliance’s Raijor Dal is contesting in 13, AJP in 10, CPI(M) in 3 and APHLC in 2. Outside the two coalitions, the AAP is contesting in 18 seats, UPPL in 18, TMC 22, JMM 16 and there are 258 independents.
The ruling NDA’s main constituents are the BJP, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodo Peoples’ Front (BPF) while the opposition alliance comprises the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), CPI(M), All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) and CPI(ML).
The counting of votes is scheduled on May 4.
