Image used for representational purposes. File
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

New Delhi:

Yet again a suspicious object was found on a railway track in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur. The police said the loco pilot of Pushpak Express noticed the red cylinder lying on the track, and applied brakes just in time.

The police said the train came to a stop some distance away from the cylinder.

The incident assumes significance as it was a fresh one amid several cases of gas cylinders and concrete pillars being found on railway tracks in Uttar Pradesh.

The train going from Mumbai to Lucknow had reached the holding line near Govindpuri station when the driver was shocked to see a fire safety cylinder lying on the tracks at 4.15 pm today.

The driver said the train speed was slow, and that helped him avert a tragedy. The fire safety cylinder, or fire extinguisher, was issued by the railways.

After telling the control room, the driver brought the cylinder to Kanpur Central. The police said the cylinder was issued by the section engineer. They are investigating the matter.

The local authorities have not given a statement yet.

Yesterday, a 16-year-old teen was detained for allegedly putting a fencing pillar on the Banda-Mahoba rail track, causing disruptions. The driver of the passenger train had to apply emergency brakes to stop the train after he saw a concrete pillar on the tracks, the police said.

The engine of another train hit a stone placed on the railway track in Bairia on Saturday.

Jhargram (WB):

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that if the BJP returns to power at the Centre, the government would hike the price of cooking gas cylinder to Rs 2,000.

The chief minister was addressing a gathering at a government programme here in Jhargram district.

“If the BJP wins the elections, they may hike the price of a cooking gas cylinder to Rs 1,500 or Rs 2,000. Then again, we will have to go back to the old practice of collecting wood to light a fire,” Ms Banerjee said.

She also gave an ultimatum to the BJP-led central government to complete building houses under the Awas Yojana by April-end, claiming that otherwise her government would start constructing them from May.

On Tuesday, Ms Banerjee had set a deadline of April 1 for the central government to complete building houses for the beneficiaries or else her government would build around 11 lakh houses for them.

Referring to her government paying MGNREGA workers their due wages which were allegedly not paid by the BJP-led central government, Ms Banerjee said, “I asked one youth whether he got the money for the 100 days’ work scheme. He said he got around Rs 30,000. This was the amount that the central government had not paid people like him for the last two years. We have paid 59 lakh people their dues.”

The Trinamool Congress supremo, however, remained silent on the arrest of party leader Shajahan Sheikh, accused of sexual atrocities on women and land grab in Sandeshkhali area in North 24 Parganas district. Sheikh was arrested early on Thursday. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)