DMDK stages walkout from TN Assembly; DMK members evicted
Chennai: Opposition DMDK on Friday staged a walkout from the House while DMK members were evicted after the Speaker declined to accept their request to expunge a word used by Housing Minister Vaithilingam from Assembly records. After the question hour, DMDK’s Alagaapuram R Mohan Raj said when his party members walked out of the House yesterday over the building collapse issue, Housing Minister Vaithilingam had used a word, which, he said, was unparliamentary and wanted it to be expunged. DMK’s Durai Murugan said the word was published in a newspaper and brought disrepute to the House and its members. He also wanted the word to be expunged from Assembly records. DMK and DMDK members were on their feet after Speaker P Dhanapal declined to accept their request. While the DMDK members staged a walkout, DMK members were later evicted by House Marshals on Speaker’s order. Puthiya Thamizhagam’s K Krishnasamy too staged a walkout. (PTI)
Hawkers return ornaments, cash found in rly station
Sonarpur (WB): In a show of honesty, two railway hawkers returned a bag containing gold and silver ornaments valued at over Rs one lakh and Rs 9,500 in cash to its owner. The two hawkers Rupchand Sardar and Tulu Bhattacharya found the bag on a bench meant for waiting passengers at a platform of suburban Sonarpur Railway Station in South 24 Parganas district on Thursday afternoon soon after the crowded down Sealdah-Canning local train pulled out. They opened the bag and on seeing the valuables and the money deposited it with the GRP at the station. On searching the bag, a piece of paper with a phone number written on it was found and Trailokyanath Das, its owner, was contacted, GRP said. The bag was returned after identification, the GRP said, adding the ornaments belonged to Das’ family deity Goddess Durga. Das, a resident of Gosaba, had left behind the bag in his hurry to board the crowded train. He was staying with his son at Sonarpur and was carrying the ornaments back home, the GRP said. (PTI)
Heavy rains cause traffic snarls, local trains disrupted
Mumbai: Water logging due to heavy rains that continued to lash the city for a second consecutive day caused major traffic snarls and also disrupted the suburban train services. Heavy monsoon showers affected suburban train services on the Central Railway’s Main and Harbour lines due to water logging on the tracks. Till 8.30 AM Friday, Colaba received 101 mm rainfall while Santacruz recorded 47.8 mm downpour. (PTI)