Dhaka: 4 killed, many injured after train travelling from town bordering India set on fire: Official
Dhaka, Jan 5: At least four people, including two children, were killed and many injured here on Friday when suspected arsonists set on fire a passenger train coming from Benapole, a port city bordering India, officials said, a day ahead of Bangladesh's general elections that have been boycotted by the main opposition BNP.
The incident happened around 9 pm when four carriages of the Benapole Express that runs from Benapole, a town bordering the Indian state of West Bengal, were set on fire as it nearly reached its destination of the capital's Kamalapur Railway Station.
"So far we have found four bodies . . . searches are still underway," Shahjahan Shikdar, the spokesman of Fire Service and Civil Defence, told newsmen at the scene.
Railway officials said that most of the train's nearly 292 passengers were returning home from India and the train was set on fire at 9 PM as it reached the Gopibagh area near the station.
Fire service chief Brigadier General Mohammad Main Uddin, meanwhile, said two of the dead were minor children.
"When we tried to bring out a middle-aged man through a window of the train but he asked me to leave him and rather save his wife and children from inside," a local youth was seen telling the private Jamuna TV.
He said soon fire engulfed the man's and he died shortly thereafter.
A report by the Somoy TV said that some Indian nationals were also travelling in the train.
While the railway officials could not immediately confirm how many people were wounded, private TV channels said that people in the neighbourhood first reached the scene and sent several fire-wounded people to Dhaka Medical College Hospital's burn unit and some other facilities.
Bangladesh goes to polls on Sunday. More than 100 foreign observers, including three from India, have reached Dhaka to monitor the general election.
Led by former prime minister Khalida Zia, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is boycotting the general election as it is demanding an interim non-party neutral government to hold the election.
The demand was rejected by the government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is heading the ruling Awami League.
Foreign Ministry officials said a three-member delegation from the Election Commission of India reached Dhaka on Friday while 122 others from different countries were set to be here ahead of the January 7 polls, which the United Nations said would watch closely.
Bangladesh witnessed a couple of train related incidents in the recent months.
Unidentified saboteurs On December 19 set a train ablaze killing four people, among them a mother and child, amid an opposition called countrywide strike on that day.
One passenger was killed and dozens wounded as saboteurs uprooted railway tracks when seven carriages derailed in Gazipur on the outskirts of the capital in early December.
On January 2, a train carrying some 300 passengers narrowly averted a major crash at the last minute as suspected saboteurs removed 28 dog spikes or hooks from the tracks on a railway bridge in northern Bangladesh.
Awami League accused BNP of carrying out the sabotages, which the party denied.
#WATCH | A passenger train was set on fire in #Bangladesh's capital #Dhaka yesterday ahead of the country's general election this weekend
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) January 6, 2024
📹 ANI pic.twitter.com/GBDyHLRE6O
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India progressing under PM Modi, Karnataka heading towards decline: Union Minister Kumaraswamy
Bengaluru (PTI): Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said while India is moving steadily towards becoming the world’s third-largest economic power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, Karnataka is heading in the opposite direction under the Congress government.
Speaking at a programme to mark the 101st birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, along with the Atal Award presentation and Good Governance Day celebrations, the JD(S) leader said Karnataka was once a model state for governance and development.
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“Karnataka was once synonymous with exemplary governance. It had adopted an outstanding development model and emerged as a leader for the entire nation. But under the Congress government’s administration, all these distinctions have been lost, and the State is now moving in the opposite direction,” Kumaraswamy said.
He alleged that the current dispensation has completely damaged the education sector, noting that Karnataka was once a frontrunner in education.
“Karnataka, which once ranked first in good governance, has reached such a state today. Frivolous politics is being played in a good State. Administration across all departments; including health, education, agriculture and revenue has deteriorated. People must now seriously introspect,” he said.
Asserting that the era of good governance must return, Kumaraswamy said people are fed up with the misgovernance of this government.
Bengaluru, once the IT-BT capital and a hub of education and technology, has seen its infrastructure completely deteriorate, he said.
"The state government lacks the mindset to accept even well-intentioned and expert advice. It has developed a culture of speaking irresponsibly even about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.”
Noting that the state has all the potential and capacity to move forward, the union minister said, “At a time when India is stepping forward to become the world’s third-largest economic power under Modi government, one wonders in which direction Karnataka is heading? It is moving backwards and sliding into decline.”
Remembering Vajpayee as “Ajatashatru”, a leader without enemies who rendered long and distinguished service to the nation, Kumaraswamy said leaders like Vajpayee are rare today.
“His contributions as External Affairs Minister, Leader of the Opposition and Prime Minister were immense. He was a visionary leader who took the BJP from just two seats to 170 seats in Parliament,” he added.
Expressing concern over growing unrest, he said, “Karnataka must once again become a garden of peace for all communities. There is unrest in society. When one looks at what is happening within families, it causes anxiety. While technology is advancing and economic strength is increasing, there is fear even in turning on the television in the morning. There is no peace of mind for anyone. It is for this reason that I have advocated teaching the Bhagavad Gita at the school level. Unfortunately, politics is being unnecessarily mixed into this issue."
