Tree branches fall on Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat amid storm, crack windshield
Kolkata, May 21: Tree branches fell on the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express during a storm in Odisha's Jajpur district on Sunday, stranding it there for over three hours, officials said.
The branches got entangled with its pantograph, besides cracking its windshield, bringing the train to a halt, they said.
No one was injured in the incident, a South Eastern Railway (SER) official said.
The incident happened around 4.45 pm between Baitarani Road and Manjuri Road stations, near the Jajpur Keonjhar Road station, he said.
The train remained stranded there for over three hours, before it restarted its journey with a diesel engine at 8.05 pm, the official said.
A diesel engine would haul the train to Bhadrak as the overhead traction wire was damaged by the fallen tree branches, he said.
"It will run on its own from Bhadrak to Howrah thereafter," he added.
The up and down services of the train will remain cancelled on Monday since some repairs would be required for the rake, the SER said.
"Howrah-Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat express will remain cancelled for repairs of damages caused by thunderstorm on May 21 in Cuttack-Bhadrak section of East Coast Railway," a statement by SER said.
The train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, and commenced its commercial run on Saturday.
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Dalit outfits call state-wide hartal over dental student’s death
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Various Dalit organisations on Monday announced a state-wide hartal seeking justice in the death of Kannur Dental College student Nithin Raj.
The hartal will be observed on Tuesday from 6 am to 6 pm.
As many as 52 Dalit organisations, including Justice for Nithin Raj Action Council, have announced the strike.
Organisations requesting cooperation for the strike said that no vehicles will be forcibly stopped and that all essential services are exempted.
Raj, a first-year BDS student at a private dental college in Anjarakkandy in Kannur district, was found critically injured after falling from a building on April 10 and later succumbed to his injuries.
Police have registered a case against two faculty members on charges of abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, following allegations by the student’s family that he was subjected to caste- and complexion-based harassment.
Kerala Pinnokka Samudaya Munnani (KPSM), one of the organisations supporting the hartal, alleged in a statement that police had shown apathy in the investigation and were attempting to protect the accused in the case.
KPSM state president K V Padmanabhan and general secretary S Anwar alleged that the probe into Raj’s death was being deliberately misdirected and delayed.
While the family has firmly alleged that caste discrimination and mental harassment by faculty members led to the student’s death, police were attempting to divert the investigation towards loan app borrowings, they claimed.
The organisation alleged that this was a planned move to shield the real accused.
KPSM further alleged that by deliberately delaying the arrest of the accused teachers, police enabled them to secure anticipatory bail.
They said there was no confidence in the present police investigation and demanded that the case be handed over to an independent agency at the earliest.
