Evacuated over 100 football family members from Afghanistan after complex negotiations: FIFA
Lausanne, Oct 15: Football's world governing body FIFA on Friday said it has evacuated almost 100 members of the "football family", including women players, from Afghanistan after "complex negotiations" and with support from Qatar.
The evacuation, especially of women footballers, was necessitated by Taliban's takeover of the strife-torn country in August this year.
"FIFA can confirm, following complex negotiations, it has, with the support of Qatar, evacuated almost 100 members of the football family from Afghanistan, including female players," stated the world body
"FIFA would like to express its sincere thanks to the government of Qatar for its support facilitating extensive discussions and for ensuring the safe passage of these individuals, deemed to have been at the highest risk," it added.
The evacuees were brought to Doha aboard a Qatar Airways charter flight from Kabul. Qatar is due to host the men's World Cup next year.
In September, members of Afghan women's youth football team had fled to Pakistan but several others were stranded during the turmoil triggered by the Taliban takeover.
The volatile situation was exacerbated by the suicide attacks outside the Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul that killed several Afghans desperately trying to flee the country.
"The FIFA leadership has been closely coordinating with the government of Qatar since August on the evacuation of the group, and will continue to work closely on the safe evacuation of further members of the sporting family in the future," the statement from FIFA read, promising more such evacuations from the war-torn nation.
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Metro services begin in Bhopal; excited residents flock to take rides, selfies
Bhopal (PTI): On the first day of the commercial run of the Metro services in Bhopal on Sunday, hundreds of residents enthusiastically took rides, expressing confidence that it will save time and provide relief from traffic jams.
An official said that the Metro’s first service began at 9 am from the AIIMS station, and by 6 pm, 5,731 people had travelled on the new mass-transit corridor.
He said that people, along with their family members, had been lining up for tickets since early morning. Several users were seen taking selfies and photos inside the Metro rakes and at stations.
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Earlier on Saturday, Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav inaugurated the Metro service by flagging off a train from Subhash Nagar station on a 7.5-kilometre stretch, called the “Priority Corridor”.
With this, Bhopal became the 26th city in the country and the second city in Madhya Pradesh, after Indore, to have the Metro service.
Rao Singh, who took a Metro ride, told PTI Videos that besides saving time and money, the new mode of transport will provide relief from traffic jams and pollution.
Another passenger, who identified himself as Chetan, said he was happy that Bhopal is now on the “Metro list”.
Office-goers will benefit a lot due to the Metro service, said a young man named Akshay.
While the estimated cost of the 30.8-km-long Bhopal Metro project is Rs 10,033 crore, a sum of Rs 2,225 crore was spent on the ‘Priority Corridor’, according to officials.
