Chhat rush in Bihar bound trains.

Source – dailypioneer.com

It’s the Chhat season, and people of Bihar from all over the world like to come back to their roots to celebrate the festival.

The reservation lists of three Bihar-bound trains — Tata-Chhapra Express, Tata-Danapur Express and Tata-Patna South Bihar Express — show zero availability of seats on October last week to November first week.

For the convenience of the travelling passengers and to clear extra rush during Diwali, Chhath and Winter holidays, South Eastern Railway has decided to temporarily augment  Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express by attaching four extra general chair car coaches during the period from  October 21  to  December 31.This is in addition to one AC-3 Tier Coach already attached on temporary basis till December. Meanwhile, officials at the computerised ticket-booking centre at Tatanagar revealed that Puri-New Delhi-Purushottam Superfast Express, Neelanchal Express and other long-distance trains that travel via Bihar had also long waiting lists. “Trains plying between Tatanagar and various destinations of Bihar are already packed to capacity because of the heavy passenger rush and the waiting list of the two popular Bihar-bound trains, South Bihar Express and Tata-Chhapra, has already crossed the 150 mark,” said an official at Tatanagar.

Even so, many passengers are unable to reserve seats and were stuck in serpentine queues in front of booking counters. The waiting lists on the important trains had crossed the 200 mark, railway sources said.

 “We are aware that  the trains are running full and some of the passengers are facing problems. But the railways are trying to cope. We want everyone to come down to their families in Chhath,” noted the official. He said that that adequate arrangement at the platform is being made to deal with the rush and avoid commotion and trouble. “Announcements are made continually, asking passengers to remain calm and maintain order. Moreover, we are not changing the platform for train arrivals. Once the announcement about a particular train arriving at a particular platform is made, trains are not switched to alternative platforms, even if it leads to trains being late. Changing platforms, may lead to confusion and stampede as the platforms are so overflowing,” the official said.

He went on to add that Chhath is an important festival for the people of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. “Every year people in large number visit their native places.

Plans are there to add coaches to several Bihar bound trains to clear the extra rush of passengers. We are expecting a notification in this regard from Garden Reach, headquarters of South Eastern Railways in a day or two,” he said.

3-year-old girl kidnapped, raped, beheaded in Jharkhand

Source: moneycontrol.com

Jharkhand police on August 1 said they were still looking for the severed head of a three-year-old girl allegedly raped and beheaded by two men in Tatanagar last week. The torso was found in a plastic bag in a bush under Telco police station area, around 4 km from the Tatanagar railway station, on Tuesday night, they said.

Sniffer dogs have been searching the area to locate the head.

The girl was abducted from the railway station when she was sleeping with her mother and her male companion.

Three persons, including the male companion, have been arrested in connection with the gruesome rape-murder case.

The girl’s mother had eloped with with the man and her child from Purulia district of West Bengal and they were staying on the station platform that night.

The woman had lodged a police complaint, saying she suspected that the man could be behind the killing of her daughter. His role is being investigated.

Superintendent of Police (Railways) Ehtesham Waquarib said the other two accused were arrested after the CCTV camera footage of the platform was scanned.The SP said the two, in their 30s, confessed they beheaded the little girl after raping and strangulating her to death.

On the basis of the lead provided by them, police recovered the torso but the head was not found.

The SP said the two accused were sent to 14-day judicial custody on Wednesday.

Police looking for severed head of toddler in Jharkhand

Source: deccanherald.com

Jharkhand police on Thursday said they were still looking for the severed head of a three-year-old girl allegedly raped and beheaded by two men in Tatanagar last week.

The torso was found in a plastic bag in a bush under Telco police station area, around 4 km from the Tatanagar railway station, on Tuesday night, they said.

Sniffer dogs have been searching the area to locate the head.

The girl was abducted from the railway station on Friday night when she was sleeping with her mother and her male companion.

Three persons, including the male companion, have been arrested in connection with the gruesome rape-murder case.

The girl’s mother had eloped with with the man and her child from Purulia district of West Bengal and they were staying on the station platform that night.

The woman had lodged a police complaint, saying she suspected that the man could be behind the killing of her daughter. His role is being investigated. 

Superintendent of Police (Railways) Ehtesham Waquarib said the other two accused were arrested after the CCTV camera footage of the platform was scanned.

The SP said the two, in their 30s, confessed they beheaded the little girl after raping and strangulating her to death.

On the basis of the lead provided by them, police recovered the torso but the head was not found.

The SP said the two accused were sent to 14-day judicial custody on Wednesday.