Saturday, Sep 14, 2002
Saturday, Sep 14, 2002 |
| Southern States | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Southern States
-
Andhra Pradesh
By Our Staff Reporter
Addressing a public meeting on the occasion, Mr. Dattatreya said the shed would generate employment for 600 people. The Union Minister, who was in Rafiganj (Bihar) on Thursday to oversee relief for the injured in the ill-fated Rajdhani Express, said the death roll in the mishap had touched 115. He also said the accident had raised many questions since it was considered a very efficient train. Mr. Dattatreya did not wish to go into the details of the accident and merely said the Government would act on the report of the inquiry commission. The Minister added that the Government accorded top priority to railway safety and security. A railway safety fund of Rs. 17,000 crores was created, of which Rs. 5,000 crores was raised through surcharge on travel fare for maintenance of signalling, railway track and overbridges. Taking a leaf from the Rajdhani mishap which occurred on a bridge over a rivulet, Mr. Dattatreya said there were 1,19,890 bridges in the rail network of 63,000 km throughout the country but there was no cause for worry about the strength or fitness of these bridges. There were 51,000 bridges which were a century or more old and 81,000 bridges whose age was more than 60 years. The bridges were regularly checked. A railway committee also went into their safety aspect. In the SCR network, there were 6,948 bridges which were more than a century old, 3,618 bridges between 50 to 100 years of age and 4,789 bridges of under 50 years age. The Minister promised to look into the representations of earlier speakers on railway line between Jammikunta and Bhoopalpally, speeding up of work on new line between Peddapalli and Nizamabad and gauge conversion between Nizamabad and Mudkhed. Earlier, the Minister was confronted by a hostile crowd of Congress workers on his arrival at the Kazipet railway station by East Coast Express. The Congressmen demanded a rail line between Kazipet and Bhoopalpalli in the wake of the latter developing as a major coal pithead. The demonstrators were pushed by the police as they clashed with slogan- shouting BJP and TDP followers. The Warangal MP, B. Venkateswarlu, demanded a halt for the Rajadhani Express at Kazipet. The Hanamkonda MP, Chada Suresh Reddy, wanted the Railways to lease out a piece of land near the Kazipet railway station for construction of a bus stand. The Warangal Mayor, T. Rajeswara Rao, also urged the Railways to surrender a portion of the land from its school premises at Kazipet to provide alternative accommodation for shopkeepers who might be displaced in a road widening programme. The Hanamkonda MLA, M. Dharma Rao, sought push-pull train service between Kazipet and Sirpur Kagaznagar. The SCR General Manager, S.M. Singla, and Chief Administrative Officer, Amar Singh, spoke.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
