Railways spent over Rs 1 lakh crore on safety between 2017-2018 and 2021-22: Official document

NEW DELHI: The railways has spent more than Rs 1 lakh crore on safety measures between 20172018 and 2021-22 with a steady growth in expenditure on track renewal, according to an official document. Government sources also indicated that the railways will soon reply to a Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s report that was cited by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to attack the Centre over the Friday triple-train accident in Odisha’s Balasore that claimed 275 lives and injured more than 1,000 people. Kharge on Monday had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that “all the empty safety claims” of Railway

Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw have been “exposed.” He also said there is serious concern among people about the deterioration in safety of railways. In his letter, Kharge had pointed out that the 2022 CAG report “Derailment in Indian Railways” highlights that funding for the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) has been reduced by a massive 79 per cent.

In the universities category, IISc Bengaluru bagged the top spot, followed by JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia at second and third ranks. The trio were on the same positions last year too.

Banaras Hindu University, which was ranked sixth last year in the category, improved its rank and bagged the fifth spot.

Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Coimbatore, Calcutta University, Vellore Institute of Technology, Aligargh Muslim University and University of Hyderabad bagged the subsequent positions in the universities category.

Eight IITs — Madras, Delhi, Bombay, Kanpur, Roorkee, Kharagpur, Guwahati and Hyderabad — were in the top 10 ranks in the engineering institutions category.

The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirapalli slipped by one spot this year and bagged the ninth rank, while Jadavpur University made its entry in the top 10 in the category and bagged the 10th position.

Among colleges, Miranda House, Hindu College and Presidency College-Chennai retained the first and second and third positions.

IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore retained the first and second ranks respectively among the B-Schools in the country. IIM Calcutta, which was at the third spot last year, slipped to the fourth position while IIM Kozhikode bagged the third position.

In the pharmacy category, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Hyderbad rose to the first spot from second position while Jamia Hamdard which was on first position last year slipped to the second spot.

In the medical colleges category, AIIMS, Delhi bagged the top spot, followed by PGIMER Chandigarh and Christian Medical College, Vellore. The trio bagged the same positions last year.

Among the dental colleges, Saveetha Institute of Medical And Technical Sciences-Chennai, Manipal College of Dental Sciences and DY Patil VidyapeethPune retained the top three positions.