METRO BLAST LEAVES 10 DEAD IN RUSSIA

SAINTPETERSBURG:Russia opened a probe into a suspected “act of terror” Monday after 10 people were killed and dozens more injured in a blast that rocked the Saint Petersburg metro.

Authorities shut down the metro system in Russia’s second city as security services said they had also defused a bomb at a second metro station.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was probing an “act of terror” but added it would look into all other possible causes of the blast. Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform.

Above ground, emergency services vehicles rushed to the scene at the Technological Institute metro station, a key transport hub in the city centre.

Health minister Veronika Skvortsova said the blast had killed seven people on the spot, with three more succumbing to their injuries later. Thirty nine people were hospitalised, including a 15-year-old girl, Skvortsova said. “My mom was in the metro, I don’t know what’s happened to her, I can’t get hold of her,” one woman, Natalia, told AFP outside the station as she was trying to make a phone call on her mobile.

Pensioner Vyacheslav Veselov said he had seen four bodies. “A station attendant in tears called on the men to help carry the bodies,” he said. The blast occurred in a train carriage as it was travelling between the Technological Institute and Vosstaniya Square stations at 2:40pm local time, said an official. NEW DELHI: Indian Railways has seen a near-fourfold rise in the number of train drivers who failed an alcohol test over the past five years, official figures show.

Most of these loco-pilots showed up for work drunk. But, in what experts say is a worrying trend, about 15% of them – at an annualized average – failed the alcohol test at the end of their journey, which means they probably risked the lives of hundreds of passengers.

And the problem seems to be getting worse.

In 2015 and 2016, the annual spike in such cases was more than 50%, according to information obtained by Hindustan Times under the Right to Information from 50 of India’s 70 railway divisions. These included passenger (long distance and suburban) and goods train drivers.

Twenty railway divisions did not respond to HT’s request for information on the number of loco-pilots who failed the breathalyser test.

A Northern railway spokesperson told Hindustan Times “the numbers are on a rise since the railway has become more stringent.”

There is no evidence to link such a trend with railway accidents, though most people agree rising alcoholism among loco-pilots is a cause for concern.

“Every day we run nearly 15,000 operations. In comparison, the rate of failure of breathalyser test is negligible,” said a senior official from the Railway Board.

“However, I agree that one train carries 1,000 to 1,200 people, so even one train accident can cause a disaster.”

Railway rules say every loco pilot must undergo a breathalyzer test while signing on and signing off duty.

Failing a test can lead to removal from service, though most offenders are let off with temporary removal from rosters or denial of increments.

HT spoke to more than a dozen loco-pilots, former high-ranking railway officials and doctors who blamed increasing stress levels for a rise in the number of drunken train drivers.

“In summer, the temperature inside the loco cabins (engines) rises to above 50 degree celsius as none of the trains have AC loco cabins,” said a long distance train driver on the condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisal. “We don’t get good sleep in railway retiring rooms as most of them are close to stations. Pay scale is highly unsatisfactory. In case of any incident, everyone find faults with the

driver. All these result in huge pressure,” said another driver of an inter-state train.

Psychologists don’t see the claim of stress as incredible. They say alcohol consumption due to stress has been on the rise in the country over the past 10 to

15 years.

“Alcohol is being used across the board in the society to relieve from the stress because the traditional stress-busting mechanism is not available now,” said Sujata Sharma, a clinical psychologist. AMRITSAR In February last year when Captain Amarinder Singh had stormed the campus of the Khalsa College in Amritsar, he had promised to scrap any law that tinkered with the heritage status of the 125-year-old institution. On returning to power in Punjab, Amarinder as chief minister has decided to do what he promised. The September-2016 legislation — making the Khalsa College a private university —passed by the Punjab assembly when the SAD-BJP government was in power will be scrapped.

“What was promised will be done. We will scrap the law that made it a private university,” Amarinder told HT. Behind his move is an ongoing power struggle between the two political families of Punjab — former Patiala royals and the Majithias — who are also bound together through matrimonial alliances. The Majithias had staged a coup by taking control of the college management when the Akalis were in power and former deputy CM Sukhbir Badal’s fatherin-law Satyajit Majithia became the head of the Khalsa College governing council.

Its control was earlier with Amarinder’s family which had also made generous grants for the college. His grandfather Bhupinder Singh and later his father Yadwinder Singh were its chancellors from 1927 to 1952. Later, Amarinder was its chancellor from 1972 to 1978.

Claiming that it was not a private

property of the Majithias, Amarinder had warned against undermining the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) and asked officials to review the Khalsa University file.

Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla on Monday also joined the

issue and called for scrapping the legislation. “It needs to be done in the interest of students and teachers. The act has diluted its heritage status. It cannot be allowed to fall prey to the greed of a select few,” Aujla told HT.