National News
Bihar Bridge Collapse: ‘Serious defects in design, will take action’, says CM Nitish Kumar

Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, acknowledged the bridge’s flawed design on Monday, a day after a bridge crossing the Ganga that was still under construction collapsed. Speaking to the news agency, Kumar stated that anybody found guilty will face the due consequences. He continued by saying that the same bridge had also fallen in 2022.
Kumar said, “The bridge that collapsed yesterday had collapsed last year also. I have instructed officials to take strict action. It is not being constructed correctly that’s why it is collapsing again & again. The department will look into it & action will be taken.”
No injuries reported so far
According to earlier reports, Kumar wanted to identify who was responsible for the event and promptly initiated an investigation. Videos of the Sunday collapse of the Bhagalpur bridge that connected Aguvanighat and Sultanganj were widely disseminated on social media. There were no injuries in the incident.
According to news agency, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav had earlier said that the building’s demolition was scheduled because specialists had discovered “serious defects” in its construction.
Second collapse of the same bridge
The decision was made after a section of the same bridge collapsed during a thunderstorm in 2022, according to Yadav and the additional chief secretary of the road construction department, Pratyay Amrit. The government subsequently tasked scientists at IIT-Roorkee with analysing the structure, he continued.
The BJP, Kumar’s former ally in the state, voiced anger over the bridge fall. Shehzad Poonwalla, the national spokesperson for the BJP, called it “the bridge of corruption,” while Lalit Narayan Mandal, a JDU MLA from Sultanganj, said, “We were expecting that the inauguration of the bridge would happen by November-December later this year…A probe must happen into the incident, there’s some fault.”
National News
Aurangabad railway station renamed to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar station

Mumbai, Oct 18: The Maharashtra government has issued a gazette notification to rename the Aurangabad railway station to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar station.
The government’s move comes two years after the name of Aurangabad city was renamed to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The government’s move coincided with the ongoing preparations by ruling MahaYuti and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi for the local and divic body elections.
The BJP-led MahaYuti government issued a gazette notification on October 15 to rename the Aurangabad railway station to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar station. The renaming process, though, was originally initiated by the Shiv Sena-led Mh Vikas Aghadi government.
Aurangabad was originally named after Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and the renaming was done to honour Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s son Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.
Aurangabad railway station was opened in 1900. It was made by the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan. The railway station is located on the Kacheguda–Manmad section. This section mainly serves Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city (formerly Aurangabad). The station falls under the Nanded division of the South Central Railway zone. It has rail connectivity with major cities in the country.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city is a tourist hub, surrounded by many historical monuments, including the Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is also known as the City of Gates, each of which has a local history, built during the Mughal Era, and 2 ASI-protected monuments (Bibi ka Maqbara and Aurangabad caves), as well as many more within city limits.
The demand for the renaming of Aurangabad sprang up in the late 1980s. Over 25 people were killed in a communal riot in 1988, and in the subsequent elections, the Shiv Sena won the Aurangabad municipal corporation elections.
On May 8, 1988, Bal Thackeray announced the renaming of the city to ‘Sambhaji Nagar’ and a resolution was passed by the municipal corporation in 1995. Following this, the then Shiv-Sena-led government issued a notification seeking objections and suggestions from the people.
However, on September 16, 2023, the Eknath Shinde-led government issued a government notification to rename the Aurangabad district to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, following approval from the special state cabinet meeting.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis last month announced that Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar will become the country’s Electric Vehicle (EV) capital, as it is a favoured investment destination.
He further stated that Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar can be called a favourite investment destination. The investment by Hyundai shows that companies are preferring cities like Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
National News
Mumbai Railway Update: Central Railway To Operate Mega Block Between Vidyavihar And Thane On Oct 19 For Maintenance Work

The Central Railway, Mumbai Division, will operate a Mega Block on its Main Line suburban sections specifically on the 5th and 6th lines between Vidyavihar and Thane stations to carry out various engineering and maintenance works on Sunday.
A block will be in force on the 5th and 6th lines between Vidyavihar and Thane stations from 8:00 am to 1:30 pm.
The following UP Mail/Express trains will be diverted on the UP Fast Line at Thane and re-diverted at Vidyavihar station. These trains are expected to arrive at their destinations 10 to 15 minutes late.
11010 Pune–CSMT Sinhagad Express
12124 Pune–CSMT Deccan Queen
13201 Patna–LTT Express
17221 Kakinada–LTT Express
12126 Pune–CSMT Pragati Express
12140 Nagpur–CSMT Sevagram Express
22226 Solapur–CSMT Vande Bharat Express
12168 Banaras–LTT Express
12321 Howrah–CSMT Express
12812 Hatia–LTT Express
11012 Dhule–CSMT Express
The following Down Mail/Express trains will be diverted on the UP Fast Line at Vidyavihar and re-diverted at Thane station. These trains will also arrive 10 to 15 minutes late.
11055 LTT–Gorakhpur Godan Express
11061 LTT–Jaynagar Express
16345 LTT–Thiruvananthapuram Netravati Express
17222 LTT–Kakinada Port Express
There will also be a block on the CSMT–Chunabhatti/Bandra Down Harbour Line from 11:40 am to 4:40 pm and on the Chunabhatti/Bandra–CSMT Up Harbour Line from 11:10 am to 4:10 pm.
Down Harbour Line services to Vashi/Belapur/Panvel, leaving CSMT from 11:16 am to 4:47 pm, and services to Bandra/Goregaon, leaving CSMT from 10:48 am to 4:43 pm, will remain suspended.
Up Harbour Line services for CSMT, leaving Panvel/Belapur/Vashi from 9:53 am to 3:20 pm, and from Goregaon/Bandra from 10:45 am to 5:13 pm, will also remain suspended.
Special services will operate between Panvel and Kurla (Platform No. 8) at a 20-minute frequency during the block period.
Additionally, Harbour Line passengers are permitted to travel via the Main Line and Western Railway between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm during the block.
These maintenance Mega Blocks are crucial for the upkeep and safety of railway infrastructure. The Railway Administration has requested passengers to bear with the inconvenience caused and to plan their journeys accordingly.
Crime
Tripura Police intensify anti-drug operations, seizes narcotics

Agartala, Oct 18: The Tripura Police, in coordination with intelligence agencies, have intensified their anti-narcotics operations over the past 10 days, leading to significant seizures of contraband substances across the state, Chief Minister Manik Saha said on Saturday.
Taking to various social media platforms, the Chief Minister Saha informed that during the past 10 days, the police recovered 896 kg of ganja (cannabis), 90,617 bottles of cough syrup, 180 highly addictive methamphetamine tablets, and 27.78 grams of heroin from different locations.
A total of 15 cases under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985 have been registered, and 16 accused persons have been arrested in connection with the seizures of various drugs.
Saha, who also holds the home portfolio, said that the Tripura Police reaffirmed their commitment to make the state free from the menace of drugs and to bring all key players involved in the illicit trade under the purview of law.
The state government, following a policy of ‘zero tolerance’ towards drugs, has been working resolutely to secure a drug-free future for the youth of Tripura, he stated.
Meanwhile, various security forces, including Assam Rifles, have confiscated drugs worth over Rs 134.50 crore in Tripura in less than three weeks. On Friday (October 17), in a joint operation, security forces recovered drugs worth Rs 4.5 crore from a goods train stationed at the Jirania railway station in West Tripura district, arriving from Delhi.
A senior official said that the Tripura Police, Assam Rifles, Government Railway Police (GRP), Special Task Force (STF) and the Customs jointly conducted a thorough search of the goods train and recovered 90,000 bottles of banned Eskuf Cough Syrup, which contains Codeine Phosphate and Triprolidine Hydrochloride, substances commonly misused as narcotics in India and neighbouring Bangladesh.
Police have continued their search operations to trace the main accused responsible for transporting the banned Eskuf cough syrup by train from Delhi.
On October 6, in one of the major drug hauls, the Assam Rifles, in close coordination with Customs officials, seized contraband valued at Rs 70 crore in Tripura’s bordering Khowai district and arrested four drug peddlers.
Acting on secret inputs, the joint team of Assam Rifles and Customs officials intercepted two trucks carrying cement as cover cargo for narcotics trafficking and recovered 69.61 kg of highly addictive methamphetamine tablets valued at around Rs 70 crore.
A Defence spokesperson had said that the October 6 operation was a follow-up to a successful operation conducted on September 29 in the bordering Mohanpur area of West Tripura district. The September 29 operation led to the recovery of 60.77 kg of banned methamphetamine tablets worth Rs 60 crore.
A senior police official said that the drugs seized on September 29 and October 6 might have been smuggled from Myanmar and transported through Mizoram and southern Assam to Tripura, from where they were intended to be smuggled into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Tripura, which shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, is surrounded on three sides by the neighbouring country, making the northeastern state vulnerable to cross-border migration, crimes, illegal trade and smuggling. Except for some patches, most parts of the frontier have been fenced to prevent smuggling, trans-border crimes and illegal infiltration.
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