Mumbai, Feb 27: A day after 26 year old woman was raped inside the state transport bus in Swargate depot from Pune, Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik on Thursday announced a slew of measures to upgrade security in buses and depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).

The minister called for the use of Artificial Technology, installation of CCTVs and GPS system in buses, installation of alarm and locking systems in buses, disposal of scrapped buses, four-wheelers and two-wheelers currently parked in various depots by April 15 and safety audit of all bus depots.

Further, the minister said the department will appeal to the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for the deployment of a senior IPS officer in the MSRTC to supervise and handle the security-related issues.

The minister further stated that the department and MSRTC will also seek help from various undertakings and the state security board to deploy more security guards in the bus depots across the state.

Currently, there are only 2,700 security guards, comprising fewer women, so the department will desire more security guards and also about 15 to 20 per cent additional women as security guards.

Sarnaik was speaking after he chaired a high-level meeting with the officers of the transport department and MSRTC to review the present security arrangements at MSRTC depots and further steps to be taken to improve the safety of women in particular. He has already ordered an inquiry into the rape case and asked the administration to suspend the concerned officers if found lapses in their functioning.

“There are about 15,000 buses, including newly inducted EV buses in the fleet of MSRTC. It was decided to use AI to improve security in buses and at the depots. The CCTVs, GPS system, alarm and locking systems will be installed in these buses. In addition, the scrapped buses, two and four wheelers not in use currently, parked at various depots, will be disposed of by April 15 so that the anti-social elements should not take undue advantage. The disposal of these scrapped vehicles will be jointly conducted by the transport department, regional transport offices and MSRTC,” he said.

He further added that there are around 800 bus depots and stations where these security arrangements will be further strengthened and the cleanliness there will also be implemented.

“The department will soon conduct a safety and security audit of these depots,” the minister said.

Sarnaik said that the department will make a special appeal to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to depute an IPS officer in the MSRTC to look after security aspects. He added that the post has been lying vacant despite the department’s request made in the past.

Sarnaik said that he has already ordered a departmental inquiry by senior officers about the functioning of the assistant transport superintendent and Swargate depot manager. They will be suspended immediately if lapses are found while discharging their duties. He said he has asked the acting MSRTC vice chairman and managing director Vivek Bhimanwar to immediately institute an inquiry.

Sarnaik said that his department accords priority to women’s safety. According to him, under the Mahila Samman Yojana, women are given 50 per cent discount on their travels from MSRTC buses. He further stated that due to this, the number of women passengers has increased substantially.

Hyderabad, Feb 27: Rescue teams intensified operation to rescue eight persons trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district on Thursday, the sixth day after the partial collapse of the under-construction tunnel.

Teams of the Army, the Navy, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and rat hole miners were removing silt and debris from the tunnel with the target of completing the rescue operation in two days.

The rescue workers were using gas plasma cutters to detach damaged parts of the tail portion of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) to clear the access to the last end of the tunnel where the eight men were trapped.

Officials said that their priority is now to clear the access by removing debris and silt. The rescue workers were also engaged in the efforts to ensure that the loco train reached up to the last point and the conveyor belt became operational.

Experts of the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) were also assessing the situation inside the tunnel. They will study if continued removal of silt may result in further collapse.

The rescue agencies intensified the operation after a high-level meeting attended by military tunnel experts and state ministers N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy decided to move ahead with a concrete action plan.

The review meeting decided to go for full-fledged dewatering and desilting.

Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said the government was leaving no stone unturned to rescue the trapped workers. He said the rescuers were working round-the-clock.

He hopes that a breakthrough in reaching the trapped men could happen “very soon”.

“With the intensified rescue efforts, deployment of elite forces, and new high-tech interventions, a breakthrough in reaching the trapped workers could happen very soon,” said Uttam Kumar Reddy.

He expressed the hope that the rescue would be completed within two days and that new strategies were being implemented to mitigate challenges inside the tunnel.

The minister said as part of the intensified rescue operations, the government has also introduced reinforced support structures to stabilise the pathway leading to the TBM ensuring that rescuers can navigate safely through the tunnel.

“Officials have been instructed to accelerate debris removal and reinforce weakened tunnel sections to prevent any secondary collapses,” said Uttam Kumar Reddy.

The government is also taking the help of experts in the construction of tunnels in border areas and those who participated in rescue operations after similar tunnel accidents in other parts of the country.

Rescue teams had not been able to advance further for the last two days due to 7-9 metre high silt in the last 40-metre stretch.

The accident occurred 14 km inside the tunnel. While the rescue teams had already reached 13.5 km, they could not advance further for the last two days due to mud, the debris of TBM, and seepage of water.

New Delhi, Feb 27: Leader of Opposition (LoP) Atishi sat on a dharna outside the Delhi Assembly premises on Thursday, alleging the highhandedness of Speaker Vijender Gupta, who suspended 21 Opposition MLAs from the House.

“This is happening for the first time in the history of the country that elected representatives are being denied entry to a legislature,” Atishi told media.

“We are not staging a sit-in but have been forced to squat here as the security staff has refused to allow us entry into the premises,” she said.

The AAP MLA from Kalkaji said that the security staff could not provide any document when the suspended MLAs demanded a copy of the Speaker’s order banning their entry into the premises.

Speaker Vijender Gupta on Tuesday had initially suspended the AAP MLAs for three sittings, but on Thursday, the Assembly secretariat indicated that the suspension had been extended for the entire session and is likely to continue till March 3.

“After all, why is the ruling BJP so afraid of the name of Baba Saheb Ambedkar,” she said, recalling Tuesday’s House proceedings when the AAP MLAs were suspended by the Speaker for complaining about the alleged removal of Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s photo from the office of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.

The BJP dismissed AAP’s allegations of any rule violation in the Assembly.

Referring to the suspension of 21 AAP legislators, Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma said, “It is just the beginning. Many firsts are going to take place in the new Assembly because they did nothing constructive in the past 10 years.”

“The misbehaviour by AAP MLAs during the address to the House by L-G V. K. Saxena is a blot on parliamentary practices,” he said.

“The rule book and convention demand that whether it is the President’s address in the Parliament or the L-G’s address in the Delhi Assembly, and that is why AAP MLAs have been penalised for their grave offence,” he said.

BJP MLA Kailash Gahlot said that the AAP MLAs have no face to complain about the suspension.

“In the previous Assembly, BJP MLA O. P. Sharma was suspended for the entire session,” he said, asking why the AAP MLAs were complaining about their suspension.