Mumbai, July 19
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu refused to apply for bail yet again till he was allowed to visit the Babhli irrigation project in Nanded district in violation of the Maharashtra government's orders. Naidu's decision sparked outrage among Maharashtra's politicians, who cut across political affiliations to force an adjournment of the state Assembly today.

As soon as the House assembled today, members of the Opposition Shiv Sena and the BJP stormed the well of the House demanding Chandrababu Naidu be sent back home, using force if necessary. They were joined by MLAs from the ruling Congress and the NCP, who accused Naidu of creating ruckus in Maharashtra for his own political ends back home.

Leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadse demanded that his notice on the matter be taken up immediately considering the gravity of the situation. However, Speaker Dilip Walse Patil adjourned the House twice after the MLAs continued to remain on the well of the House. After the ruckus continued, the Speaker adjourned the House for the rest of the day.

Similarly, the Maharashtra Legislative Council was also adjourned for the day as members cutting across party lines expressed their protest against Naidu.

Meanwhile, Naidu and his supporters, who are still lodged at a makeshift jail in the town of Dharmabad, have yet again refused to accept bail demanding that they be allowed to visit the Babhli irrigation project. Reports say, Naidu accused the Maharashtra police of kidnapping a group of Telugu Desam leaders from Andhra Pradesh. Naidu is said to have made these allegations before the magistrate, who extended his judicial custody.

In Nanded, tempers continued to flare up as political parties enforced bandh at many places and burnt effigies of Naidu.

According to sources, emissaries of Chief Minister Ashok Chavan are in touch with the representatives of the Andhra Pradesh Government to come up with a face-saver. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government is mulling shifting Naidu to a jail in Aurangabad or Nashik towns where facilities to lodge VIPs are available.

Adding to the Maharashtra government’s troubles five supporters of Naidu have begun a fast-unto-death in a bid for the group to get permission to visit the Babhli project.

However, sections of the ruling front in Maharashtra are in favour of pushing Naidu and his supporters back into Andhra Pradesh or neighbouring Karnataka.

Chandigarh, July 19
Making a pitch for European consortium EADS’s Typhoon fighter for meeting the IAF’s requirement of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), Germany look to spread its wings in the Indian aviation sector.

Going beyond the stiff competition for the Rs 42,000-crore fighter deal, Germany has set up an aerospace research and development centre in Bangalore with a strength of about 600 engineers.

“The centre became operational last month,” German ambassador Thomas Matussek said during a visit to The Tribune here today. “It’s not just about the MMRCA deal. There are many other things like the light combat aircraft, radar, trainer aircraft and aircraft engines that offer immense scope for developing modern technology together,” he added.

There are six contenders willing to meet the IAF’s requirement, which include the French Rafale, US F-16C/D and F/A-18E/F, Swedish JAS 39 Gripen and the Russian MiG-35. EADS has offered India to become partner in the Typhoon programme if it won the contract.

Matussek said Germany didn’t want to just sell fighters to the IAF, but intended to share technology and go in for joint development of the aircraft to address maintenance and spares issues at a later stage. The Ambassador said though India showed interest in counter-terrorism training and Germany was ready to offer several courses in that regard to Indian agencies, inter-ministerial differences in India had been holding up the matter for quite some time. Germany’s GSG-9, the agency to conduct training, is rated among the top special forces and counter-terrorist units in the world.

Matussek also termed the Indian model of using nuclear technology as “admirable”, but viewed it as a “bridging” technology between convectional methods of power generation and alternative sources of energy.

New Delhi, July 19
Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen today admitted to mixing up of funds in his personal bank account and the official account of the court receiver — a position he had held before his appointment as a HC judge in December 2003 — but maintained that this did not amount to misappropriation, warranting impeachment proceedings in Parliament for his removal.

Senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, arguing for Justice Sen before the three-member inquiry panel of the Rajya Sabha, also acknowledged that his client had failed to produce evidence to prove his innocence and all the records pertaining to the bank accounts and the investments made from these accounts.

This was due to the fact that banks kept records only for eight years, while his client could not trace his documents. The inquiry panel is headed by SC Judge B Sudershan Reddy.

New Delhi, July 19
The politics of blame game over the accident between the Sealdah-bound Uttarbanga Express and the stationary Vanachal Express at Sainthia station in Bhirbhum district of West Bengal has begun. But none of the politicians, part of this rhetoric, would be willing to come forward with concrete suggestions to improve the rail safety record, the action for which continues to be a non-starter with succeeding governments. The accident at Sainthia station, in which the death toll continues to rise, was the second major rail mishap in West Bengal in two months.

On May 28, the Howrah-Kurla Gyaneshwari Express was derailed by Naxals in West Midnapore district, killing at least 148 persons.

Notably, Mamata Banerjee’s 15-month stint as Railway Minister (under UPA-II) has been a witness to 11 major train accidents across the country, with two of the most disastrous mishaps -- Gyaneshwari Express and today’s at Sainthia station -- occurring in her home state of West Bengal, where she had been fighting a lonely battle against the CPM for the last three decades. There were, however, several other accidents during the period, both in local and mail trains and Kolkata’s Metro rail, and the causes behind many of these accidents still remained unanswered. The Gyaneshwari train accident and the attempt to blow up the Guwahati-New Delhi Rajdhani Express were attributed to the Maoists. But, the Railway Minister herself and her party (Trinamool Congress) men had pointed a finger at the CPM, whose cadres, they alleged, were involved in a conspiracy to sabotage the railways for discrediting Mamata. A section of the Congress, too, levelled similar allegations.

As Mamata Banerjee today announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to the next of the deceased and ordered an inquiry, railway officials admitted there was no concrete plan in hand to curb such accidents. As always, they claimed human error to be the reason behind the accident. The officials said the main reasons for the accidents would only be revealed after the inquiry has been completed but were unable to answer even straightforward questions as to why the train which was scheduled to arrive at Sainthia at 1.38 am and leave at 1.39 am, after a minute's halt.

It is a serious lapse on the part of the Railways... There were no Naxal activities and no fog even then such a major accident occurred... This is a sad incident, a serious lapse.

— Lalu Prasad, RJD president

Railway Minister will have to make a choice as to whether she wants to be Railway Minister or do West Bengal politics. Both cannot go together. The loss of so many lives in every three months is not tolerable.

— Ram Vilas Paswan, LJP chief

People are raising serious doubts about her (Banerjee's) capability and her willingness and her sincerity whether she can provide safety in the railways.

— Tarun Vijay BJP spokesman

You have a Minister whose attention is elsewhere and the country is paying the price for that...The PM has to take a call. It is high time he takes a call because in the past one year, the highest number of railway accidents have taken place.

— Sitaram Yechury CPM leader

Accidents are accidents. Nobody can predict, that's why it is an accident.

— Pranab Mukherjee Union Finance Minister 

Suri, July 19
Jubilation in the Shah household of Asansol in anticipation of Shakuntala's marriage turned into wails after she and three more members were killed in the Sainthia train tragedy today.

It was after Shakuntala's engagement to a distant relative that she, father Balram, mother Sangita and aunt Renu boarded the ill-fated Vananchal Express from Bhagalpur yesterday. "We have lost them all. What are we left with," moaned Sangita's sister Babita at whose Bhagalpur house the 'sagai' (engagement) took place.

Wailing inconsolably in one corner of the Suri Hospital, Babita said her family had seen off the Shahs at the station. "They were happy and Shakuntala laughed a lot. We were all looking forward to the marriage and now all is lost," she said as other tearful family members tried to console her. It was only after television channels beamed news of the disaster, she realised that her relatives were in one of the ill-fated coaches.

"We have now come to receive whatever is left of their bodies. God, I wish I had never lived to see this day," Babita moaned. Fate, however, was not so unkind to the Mishra family, which had boarded Vananchal Express from Kahalgaon on their way home to Dhanbad after the marriage of daughter Pooja.

Pooja, her father Vijay, mother Durga and 12-year-old brother Chhotu escaped with minor injuries after they were all tossed out of their compartment by the impact of the collision. — PTI

Dec 3, 2000: 46 killed as the Howrah-Amritsar Mail rams into a derailed goods train in Punjab

June 22, 2001: 40 killed as the Mangalore-Chennai Mail falls into Kadalundi in Kerala

Jan 5, 2002: 21 killed as Secundarabad-Manmad Express rams into goods train in Maharashtra.

June 4: 34 were killed when the Kasgunj Express rammed into a bus at a rail crossing.

Sept 9: 100 persons were killed when a bogie of Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express plunged into the Dhave river in Bihar’s Aurangabad district.

Sept 10: 120 persons were killed when the Kolkata-New Delhi Rajdhani Express derailed in Bihar.

May 15, 2003: 38 were killed when three coaches of Amritsar-bound Frontier Mail caught fire.

June 22: 53 persons were killed when Karwar-Mumbai Central Holiday train derailed in Maharashtra.

Feb 27, 2004: 30 were killed when Kanchenjunga Express rammed into a truck in Bengal's Dinajpur district.

Dec 15: 34 died as Jammu Tawi Express collides with a train in Punjab.

Nov 9, 2006: About 40 died in a West Bengal rail accident.

Dec 1: 35 were killed when a portion of 150-year-old bridge collapsed over a passing train in Bihar's Bhagalpur district.

Oct 21, 2009: 22 were killed when the Goa Express rammed the Mewar Express in Uttar Pradesh.

Jan 2, 2010: Three accidents involving five trains take place in Uttar Pradesh, killing 15. — PTI

New Delhi, July 19
In a bizarre incident, a technician was injured when the wheels of a Mumbai-bound Air India plane ran over his legs as it was preparing for take-off at the IGI airport.

Ram Kishor (45), an Air India employee, was rushed to the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre in Vasant Kunj in south Delhi, where his condition is reported to be serious.

Airport sources said the nose wheels crushed Kishor's legs as the Airbus A-321 was being pushed back while preparing it
for take-off.

Following the accident, the aircraft has been temporarily withdrawn from service, the sources said.

As many as 43 passengers on-board the IC-602 Delhi-Mumbai flight were shifted to another aircraft, which took-off after an hour's delay.

The mishap took place when the flight was given the all clear signal for take off. AI has order a probe into the incident, a spokesperson of the airline said. — PTI