SAD NEWS

The Good and the Bad at the moment!

BAD:Thirty-seven people are killed in a head on collision between two passenger trains in Punjab.
The Kanchi Shankaracharya moves the Supreme Court for bail in the Sankararaman murder case.
The apex court asks the CBI, if Papu Yadav can be shifted from the Beur jail to prevent his unlawful activities.
India and Pakistan agree to a joint survey of the Sir Creek boundary.
The Home Minister says, 209 Indian Reserve Battalions will be raised for policing the border.
A series of blasts in Assam claim one life and injure 45 others.
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At least 37 people including eleven women and a child were killed and 45 injured in a train accident in Punjab today. The accident occurred when Jammu-Tawi Ahmedabad Express and a DMU local train collided head on near Mukerian in Hoshiarpur district around noon. Railway sources say, both the trains were given the green signals on the single line, the Jalandhar-Pathankot section of the Ferozepur Division of Northern Railway. While the local train DMU was cleared from the Bangara railway station, the Ahmedabad bound express train was given the go-ahead from Chak Kalan railway station. The sources said, drivers of both the trains are among those killed. Our Correspondent reports that while the injured have been shifted to nearby hospitals bodies have been kept at the Mukerian Civil hospital.

The Railway Minister, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav after visiting the accident site announced the suspension of both the Station Masters and said, a case will be registered against them for causing death due to negligence.

He said, besides the ex-gratia of one lakh rupees, a compensation of four lakh rupees will be given to the next kin of those killed and employment to at least one member of each bereaved family. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has expressed shock and grief at the train accident.

The Punjab Government has also announced an ex-gratia payment of one lakh rupees each for the families of the deceased and 25 thousand rupees for the injured. The Chief Minister, who visited the accident site, said that his government will bear all the medical expenses for the treatment of the injured.

Over 350 officers, jawans and doctors of the Indian Army apart from others are helping extensively in the rescue and relief operation at the site of the train accident.

The Northern Railway authorities have set up help-line counters at Jalandhar, Delhi and Ahmedabad for inquiries related to the accident.

The numbers are: 0181-2456072 and 0181-2456240 at Jalandhar; 011-23341074 and 011-23344128 at Delhi; and 079-2213344 at Ahmedabad.

According to a Northern Railway spokesman Davinder Sandhu, the traffic on the affected track has been rescheduled.

The Jammu Tawi-Rishikesh Hemkunt Express has been cancelled today and its corresponding service between Rishikesh and Jammu Tawi will remain cancelled tomorrow. The Jammu Tawi-Chennai Express scheduled to depart at 11.15 p.m. tonight has been rescheduled for 6.50 a.m. tomorrow.