(ET) Indian Railways will undertake its largest track renewal exercise in the next three months to reduce train derailments. New railway minister Piyush Goyal has asked the Railway Board to identify stretches where tracks have either completed their lifespan or carry heavy traffic and change them all within the stipulated timeline. The national transporter is expected to renew almost 2,000 km of track by the end of this calendar year, officials said. Goyal has instructed the board to to use the available rails for renewals. However, the target for the current financial year for laying of new rails will remain…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(ET) The Hardik Patel-led Patidar agitation and the impressive support mustered by Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Alpesh Thakor have led the BJP to focus on the backward castes in Gujarat in the run-up to the Assembly polls due this December. It is giving final touches to plans for reaching out to the sizable vote bank from these backward communities with a rally and two Yatras in the state. BJP chief Amit Shah will address a rally of backward castes on September 18 at Phagwel in Kheda district. Thakors, a backward caste earning its livelihood as peasants and small farmers,…
(ET) Rajasthan became the third BJP-ruled state, after Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, to waive farm loans. The government made the waiver announcement late on Wednesday night after reaching an agreement with farmers who had been agitating since September 1. As per the agreement, farm loans up to Rs 50,000 would be written off, putting an additional burden of about Rs 20,000 crore on the Vasundhara Raje government. The loan waiver announced by UP chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath Yogi Aditya Nath and his Maharashtra counterpart, Devendra Fadnavis, had cost the two state governments Rs 36,000 crore and Rs 34,000 crore,…
(ET) Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL), India’s second largest fuel retailer, informed Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) its board has approved the draft scheme for amalgamation of Petronet CCK Limited (PCCKL), a wholly owned subsidiary for integrated operations and better control. PCCKL is engaged in transport of petroleum products through a dedicated 292 Kilometer multiproduct pipeline constructed primarily for evacuation of petroleum products from Kochi refinery in Kerala. “We would like to inform you that the Board of Directors of BPCL at its meeting held on 12th September 2017, approved the draft Scheme for the amalgamation of Petronet CKK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of…
(TH) A major fire broke out at the go-down of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant at Cherlapally in north-eastern part of the city on Thursday night. Panic gripped the industrial and residential localities around the plant in Cherlapally as LPG cylinders blew up one after another. Worried over their safety, people of the locality moved to safer places. What triggered the fire was not yet known but it started in the go-down around 8.30 p.m., Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said. “Immediately, alert workers closed the filling unit,” he said.
(ET) Uttarakhand government and Indian Institute of Petroleum have agreed in principle to make bio fuel and turpentine oil from “Perule” (pine needles). In this regard, a MoU is likely to be signed between them soon. Uttarakhand government has issued a press release in this connection on Wednesday. According to the release, centre for collecting pine needles (Perule) would be set in the state’s eight hilly districts- Almora, Chamoli, Nainital, Pauri, Rudraprayag, Pithoragar Pithoragarh, Tehri and Uttarkashi. Incentives would be also given to locals engaged for collecting the “Perule”. The government is also under plan to use modern technologies for…
(PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today exuded confidence that Aadhaar law will pass the test of constitutionality, saying the legislation has adequate safeguards for data protection. Jaitley’s comments at a conclave on financial inclusion organised by United Nations here come amid a legal challenge mounted in the Supreme Court against making the biometric identification number, Aadhaar, mandatory for government schemes, including its linking to income tax PAN. The next date of hearing is in November. The Finance Minister said Aadhaar was an evolving idea under the previous UPA regime and it did not have legislative backing. BJP-led NDA gave it a legislative cover…
(TH) Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), India’s second largest state-owned oil marketer is mulling a merger with GAIL (India), India’s largest gas distributor, and Oil India, the country’s second largest explorer, to create an integrated energy giant after the Centre approved the merger of rival Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) with ONGC. BPCL, which got Maharatna status on Tuesday, has written to the petroleum ministry about its ambitious plan and is waiting to hear back from the government. Confirming the development, BPCL Chairman D. Rajkumar said, “BPCL has also got aspirations and ambitions to get into some kind of integration. This…
(AU) प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी अपने जापानी समकक्ष शिंजो अबे के साथ आज देश की पहली बुलेट ट्रेन प्रोजेक्ट की नींव रखेंगे। इसके बाद हवा से फर्राटे भरने वाली देश की पहली बुलेट ट्रेन परियोजना मुंबई-अहमदाबाद हाई स्पीड रेल (एमएएचएसआर) पर काम शुरु हो जायेगा। मोदी के ड्रीम प्रोजेक्ट बुलेट ट्रेन की बुनियाद के करीब 10 हजार लोग गवाह बनने जा रहे हैं। आयोजन के लिये गुजरात के साबरमती साबरमती रेलवे स्टेडियम को दुलहन की तरह सजाया गया है। वहीं, पूरे प्रोग्राम के लाइव टेलिस्टकॉट के लिये बड़ी-बड़ी स्क्रीन लगायी गयी है। उधर, गुजरात का अहमदाबाद शहर दो प्रधानमंत्रियों की दोस्ती…
(AU) जम्मू राजधानी एक्सप्रेस गुरुवार सुबह हादसे का शिकार हुई है। मीडिया रिपोर्टों के मुताबिक, सुबह 6 बजे नई दिल्ली रेलवे स्टेशन पर ट्रेन का आखिरी कोच (गार्ड कोच) पटरी से उतर गया। हालांकि इस हादसे में अभी तक किसी के हताहत होने की खबर नहीं है। गौरतलब है कि पिछले हफ्ते नई दिल्ली रेलवे स्टेशन के नजदीक रांची राजधानी एक्सप्रेस का इंजन व पॉवर कार बेपटरी भी बेपटरी हो गया था, जिसमें एक युवक घायल हुआ था। बता दें कि 7 सितबंर को उत्तर प्रदेश के सोनभद्र जिले में हावड़ा से जबलपुर जा रही शक्तिपुंज एक्सप्रेस 11448 अप गुरुवार की सुबह…