Cyclone Aila becomes political leveler in West Bengal of India

Cyclone Aila becomes political leveler in West Bengal of India

Cyclone Aila, which rampaged through the West Bengal state of India Monday killing more than 100, has turned out to be a political leveler forcing local top leaders to reach out to their homeless people.

Both the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) government in West Bengal and its rival, opposition Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, are caught in a bitter battle over the cyclone.

Banerjee caused an election disaster recently on CPI-M and gave a major blow to the latter's West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Mamata, who has become an ally of the ruling Congress party in the forming of the new government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has taken the post cyclone plight of local people upon herself to cause further damage to the image of the Left government.

"Every year because of flood and because the Irrigation Department is so callous, they don't do the repairing work with concrete, so it is a phenomenon. They don't work at all. That's why it's so devastating," Mamata told the media on Wednesday.

"It seems no government exists in this state," she added.

The CPI-M-led government, on the other hand, is in damage control mode with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee meeting the homeless in the disaster-struck region of Neempith in the Joynagar area for days.

"This is a serious cyclonic storm. So I thought I should personally go there. I just assured them. They are asking when they will be able to go back to their houses," Buddhadeb said. "People should not do politics in such times."

Mamata scored a point earlier by taking charge of the Railway Ministry in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, instead of New Delhi thus making a point loud and clear that even as Union Railway Minister, her priorities remained very much local.

Bhattacharjee is trying his best to stop people's discontent from spreading any further and admitted that people in Kolkata were facing a lot of problems as the city has remained without telephone and electricity for three days so far.

"In many areas there is no water. Electricity supply is disrupted in the northern and southern suburbs. We are trying our best," Bhattacharjee said.

The death count in floods triggered by Cyclone 'Aila' has reached move than 100 in West Bengal, while 400,000 were made homeless and large parts of cyclone-hit areas of the state are faced with a severe drinking water crisis.

The residents of Kolkata also began resorting to protests Wednesday against the CPI-M government road by setting up blockades before utility offices.

Meanwhile, the army have been conducting relief operations in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, which has been worst hit in the calamity.

Officials estimated that around 150,000 houses have collapsed, while 500 kilometers of embankment along the coast facing Bengal Bay were damaged by flood and high waves from the sea.

There are also reports of diarrhea outbreaks in some remote areas.

Suburban train driver loses bag containing keys

Suburban train driver loses bag containing keys

What suburban train drivers
have been dreading ever since the railways entrusted the four keys' needed to operate a suburban train has
come true. Unidentified persons allegedly stole a bag containing the four keys' from a driver while he was travelling for work from Avadi to Chennai on Tuesday.

According to police Jeevananandam was travelling in an Arakonam-Chennai suburban train to join duty at the Central station. When he reached Chennai Central, he realised that the bag containing the keys was missing. He informed railway authorities.

A couple of days after the Vysarpadi accident on April 29, Southern Railway had given its drivers the keys' - levers that are inserted into different systems to operate a suburban train. When the decision was mooted, motormen had raised concern about the safety aspect since the keys could be used to operate any train.

Reacting to Tuesday's incident, Southern Railway chief public relations officer Neenu Ittyerah said: "Misuse of keys is ruled out because motorcabs are not left unguarded after the Vysarpadi accident. There will be people monitoring cabs when drivers change duty. But the keys' are personal equipment and the loss will be reported to the police."

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Southern Railway Chennai

Southern Railway Chennai

Southern Railway Chennai is said to be the 'Gateway of the South'. There are two railway stations in Southern Railway Chennai: Southern Railway Chennai Central & Southern Railway Chennai Egmore. While Southern Railway Chennai Egmore caters to the trains to other parts of Tamilnadu, Southern Railway Chennai Central connects the city to other states of India. Southern Railway Chennai Central station has 11 platforms to handle long distance trains and 6 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex.

Southern Railway Chennai also houses the headquarters of Southern Railways. Southern Railways was the first railway zone to be created in independent India on 14 April 1951, by three state railways namely Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway, and the Mysore state railway. Southern Railways covers the states of Tamilnadu, Kerala, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and has following divisions:

* Southern Railway Chennai
* Madurai
* Palakkad
* Thiruvanthapuram
* Tiruchapalli

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