Coast Guard continues to monitor sunken vessel off Mangaluru coast
Mangaluru, Jun 25: Officials of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) continued to monitor the situation around the grounded merchant ship MV Princess Miral off the Ullal shore near here for any probable leakage of oil from the ship.
Along with the district administration and other stakeholders, coordination is being done for the shoreline clean-up in case of any oil spill, an ICG release here said on Saturday.
Constant surveillance has been undertaken by Coast Guard aircraft and ships in the area around the vessel and onshore for pollution response since June 21 after the vessel ran aground.
A fully equipped pollution control vessel, ICGS Samudra Pavak from Porbandar, arrived on Saturday morning off New Mangalore and joined the pollution response operation at sea along with ICG ships and aircraft.
As of date, nine ICG ships and resource agencies and three Coast Guard aircraft are on task for assessment and monitoring the sea area off New Mangalore.
These assets are continuing the necessary preventive measures. Nethravati river is in close proximity of the vessel, which is grounded close to shore, therefore as a precautionary measure, the river mouth has been barricaded from the seaward side using inflatable booms so as to prevent containment of the river in case of any leakage of oil from the ship.
Coast Guard pollution response team and experts are continuously analysing the situation and also assisting the state administration and New Mangalore Port authorities by conducting pollution response operation and shoreline clean-up training sessions and mock drills, the release said.
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After fake ID crackdown, IRCTC daily new accounts down to 5000 from one lakh: Railways
New Delhi (PTI): With a new, stringent system to establish user identity, the number of new user IDs being added daily on the IRCTC website has declined to about 5,000 from nearly one lakh, officials said on Saturday.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw noted that the crackdown by Indian Railways on train ticket booking through fake identities is yielding positive results, according to a press note.
Before the latest reforms, this number had touched nearly one lakh new user IDs per day, it said.
"Following the introduction of a stringent system to establish user identity and detect fake IDs, about 5,000 new user IDs are now being added daily on the IRCTC website," the note said.
The officials stated that these steps have already helped Indian Railways deactivate 3.03 crore fake accounts.
"Another 2.7 crore user IDs have either been temporarily suspended or identified for suspension based on the suspicious activities they are indulging in," they said.
The Union minister directed officials to ensure that the ticketing system is reformed to a level where all travellers are able to book tickets easily through a real and genuine user ID, the press note added.
Additionally, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has directed officials to provide local cuisine of the region in Vande Bharat trains.
Introducing local cuisine that reflects the culture and tastes of the regions being traversed will significantly enhance the passenger experience, officials said.
This facility will be expanded to all the trains progressively in future, they added.
