New Delhi, June 11 (PTI): Train tickets can be booked by sending text messages from July 1.
A dedicated number for this purpose will soon be announced. One has to register the mobile number with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and one’s bank. The bank will provide a mobile money identifier (MMID) and a one-time password (OTP) for payment authorisation.
A railway official said for booking a ticket a person has to send the train number, destination, journey date, class and passenger details to the number fixed. The sender will then receive a transaction ID. He will then make the payment by typing PAY, followed by the transaction ID, MMID and the password.
Rs 3 will be charged per message. The payment gateway charges are Rs 5 for ticket amount up to Rs 5,000 and Rs 10 for more than that.
Mumbai (PTI): Death toll from the building collapse at central Mumbai on Monday has risen to 10, officials said. Debris removal operation is still on at the site. Residents blamed structural changes made to a showroom on the ground floor of the four-storey building for the collapse.
Nagpur (PTI): Eight prisoners, including a death row convict, have successfully completed their post-graduation from Indira Gandhi National Open University. The prisoners are among the 414 inmates of Nagpur and Amravati central jail who have enrolled with the varsity.
Jammu (PTI): Over 32,000 graduates and post-graduates from 2006 to 2011 batch of Jammu University are yet to receive their certificates, an RTI reply has revealed. Varsity officials did not give satisfactory reasons for the delay. A varsity official has asked the department of controller of examinations to clear the backlog within a week.
Dehradun (PTI): Dhikala range of Corbett Tiger Reserve was closed for tourist on Tuesday, three days before schedule because of heavy overnight showers that damaged roads in the zone. The range has been closed for safety reasons, its director Samir Saha said.
New Delhi, June 11: The Indian Air Force today took delivery of the first C-17 Globemaster heavylift strategic airlifter that US President Barack Obama hard-sold during his visit here. The C-17, made by Boeing, was given by the US to India as a symbol of the strategic partnership in the wake of the civil nuclear deal. But it does not come cheap at a billion dollars apiece. India has contracted 10 of the aircraft with the option of ordering more. The Indian contract helped save and create jobs in the Boeing plant that makes the aircraft.
The plane is scheduled to land in India on Monday. This is a rare instance of the Indian military actually taking delivery of a major military platform on schedule.
Lahore, June 11 (PTI): Pakistani officials today alleged that two Indian fighter jets entered 7km into the country’s airspace over Punjab province.
The officials said the incident occurred over Pakpattan, 200km from Lahore. The Indian Air Force, however, rejected the claim saying, “Our pilots did not cross the border”. Pakistan has not officially registered a protest with India.
New Delhi (PTI): A consumer forum has directed HDFC bank to pay Rs 50,000 to a customer for “illegally” deducting Rs 1.35 lakh from his account for using a credit card that was never delivered. The forum said although the money was refunded later, Sunil Kumar Kushwaha was deprived from using the amount for the period.
Washington (PTI): Providing universal HIV testing for India’s billion-plus population every five years can save millions of lives and prove to be a cost-effective approach to managing the epidemic, a study has claimed. The findings are based on a model used in several countries.
Dubai (PTI): A Dubai-based NRI has initiated a campaign in his native Kerala to promote the preservation of water using a cheap rain harvesting device. Azad Moopen endorses the device, developed by Keralite P. Jaleel, that filters rainwater using river sand, charcoal and baby metal.
New Delhi (PTI): Actress Shabana Azmi will get her fourth doctorate from a university in Canada. “Off to USA. I will receive Doctorate from Simon Fraser University Vancouver on June 12,” she tweeted. Her husband Javed Akhtar will also speak on 100 years of Indian cinema there.
Meerut (PTI): Police have been ordered to file a case against former Uttar Pradesh minister Ramveer Upadhyay and his wife BSP MP Seema for allegedly ransacking an office at Vivekananda Subharti University. The Upadhyays, who wanted to admit their daughter, vandalised the director’s office on April 3, when he was not present.
