Category: India

Uttar Pradesh government is planning to develop a 500-acre ‘New Ayodhya’ township on the banks of the river Sarayu. ‘New Ayodhya’, which is being planned on a stretch of land between the villages of Majha Barhata and Jaisingh Mau near the ancient city of Ayodhya, will be constructed at an estimated initial cost of around Rs 3.5 billion (Rs 350 crores). The new township will be adjoining the Lucknow-Gorakhpur expressway and will be close to the banks of the Sarayu, a tributary of the river Ganga. The ‘New Ayodhya’ project will come under the jurisdiction and administration of the Ayodhya ... Read more

There’s no one who has not complained about the insanely high prices the restaurants and eateries at the multiplexes charge from the customers. But, from now on, you can buy food and water from Mumbai multiplexes at regular prices. Noting that the cost of food and water inside multiplexes was exorbitant, the Bombay High Court observed that it should be sold at regular prices. The Maharashtra government told the court that it would soon frame a policy on the issue. A division bench of justices SM Kemkar and MS Karnik was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Mumbai resident ... Read more

If you are in Bengaluru and want to try out the suburban trains for a change, this multilingual app is going to help you find everything you need to know about the metro, suburban train systems. RailJini, which will cover aspects pertaining to suburban train travel, was launched earlier this week. The app will give exact train timings, update passengers on delays, send locations, and also allow them to send their location if required. The app will work in English, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.   More features, like Metro timings, information and last-mile connectivity (allowing you to book a cab ... Read more

A regular weekly express train between Dibrugarh and Silchar will be introduced from April 8, connecting Barak and Brahmaputra valley. The new service will be jointly flagged off by chief minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal and minister of state of Railways Rajen Gohain, from Dibrugarh tomorrow, informed the Northeast Frontier Railway. The regular service of the train will start from April 16 from Dibrugarh and from Silchar on April 17. The  15944 Dibrugarh – Silchar Express will leave Dibrugarh every Monday at 7 pm and arrive at Silchar at 8.40 am the next day. During the return journey, the 15943 Silchar ... Read more

Southern railway said it will operate special fare special train between Kochuveli and Kamakhya, via Podanur, Katpadi, Perambur from April 8, to clear the extra rush towards Guwahati sector. Train No.06336 Kochuveli – Kamakhya special fare special train will leave Kochuveli at 2 pm on Sundays from April 8 to May 27 and reach Kamakhya at 8.10 am on Wednesdays. Train No.06335 Kamakhya- Kochuveli special fare special train will leave Kamakhya at 11.05 pm on Wednesdays from April 11 to May 31 and reach Kochuveli at 10.30 pm on Saturdays. The train has one AC 2-tier, two AC 3-tier, seven ... Read more

The National Rail Museum will be open till 9 PM from next month with an aim to increase footfalls at the museum. The move is in line with the views of Tourism Minister K J Alphons, who has been advocating that places of tourist interest should remain open post evening. “We are still working out the details. We have to give the tourists who visit at night a different package than what we give to the day tourists. We are working that out. But the museum will be open from 6 PM to 9 PM,” said Amit Saurastri, Director, National Rail ... Read more

Goa has issued an alert to all vessels and casinos operating off the state’s coast following an intelligence input about possible arrival of terrorists on board a fishing trawler, the state’s ports minister said. State’s Ports Minister Jayesh Salgaoncar said that his department has issued a warning to all the off shore casinos, water sports operators and barges to be alert as the Indian Coast Guard has shared an intelligence input about a possible terror attack on the western coast. “The alert is not specific to Goa. It can be even to Mumbai or Gujarat coast, but we have alerted ... Read more

Khadi soap When you are India and want to take back some wonderful Khadi sarees, dress materials and artefacts, you don’t have to search for the authentic khadi store anymore. To ease the process, the Minister of State for MSME, Giriraj Singh has launched a mobile phone application for locating 4,000 Khadi stores in the country. “There are more than 8,000 Khadi stores in India, the rest of stores will also be available on the store locator by the end of this month,” said Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman KVIC in the board meeting today. The Chairman further said that KVIC expects to surpass ... Read more

The finance ministry today announced that a 5 per cent GST will be levied on food and drinks supplied by Indian Railways or Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. or their licensees, whether in trains or at platforms (static units). The Finance Ministry has written to the Railway Board on March 31 about the 5 per cent rate to remove any doubt or uncertainty in the matter. The new announcement would bring about uniformity in the rate of GST applicable to supply of food and drinks made available in trains, platforms or stations. “The GST rate on supply of food and ... Read more

Flipkart has announced its tie-up with MakeMyTrip for travel bookings. Through the partnership, users can now make travel bookings through MakeMyTrip’s services using Flipkart’s mobile application. The partnership will be rolled out with domestic flight bookings in the next few weeks, followed by hotels, bus, and holiday bookings. “The partnership will help us reach out to an even wider consumer base through MakeMyTrip’s multiple travel booking sites — MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and redBus — and open up the online travel market significantly,” said the founder and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MakeMyTrip Deep Kalra. The companies did not disclose the ... Read more

Alliance Air has started thrice-a-week flight service on the Delhi-Pathankot Delhi route. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated first flight from Delhi to Pathankot (Punjab), at a ceremony held at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. The carrier’s ATR aircraft will operate on this sector on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday under the flagship regional connectivity scheme,  Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN). Pathankot is the 21st city got connected under the scheme. “Pathankot is a very important border city for India and it is very important to connect and help the people from such areas, we had tried to connect the ... Read more

Efficient logistics is critical for countries like India to harness trade and facilitate greater & faster integration with both the domestic as well as world economy. Keeping the importance of efficient logistics to harness trade and facilitate  in mind 56 new airports will become functional in the next few years, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu said . The Minister further said that by bringing all the stakeholders together it will create the right platform to improve logistics and connectivity which are vital for increasing intra-state and international trade flows. Indian logistics industry is estimated at ... Read more

Hotel Ashok in Ranchi has stopped all its operations last Friday. A joint venture between Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and the erstwhile Bihar government, the hotel opened in Ranchi in 1988 and had been running at a loss for years. The property has three stakeholders, namely, ITDC (51 per cent), Jharkhand (12.5) and Bihar the rest. Originally, Bihar owned 49 per cent stake but after the formation of Jharkhand, the stakes were split 3:1 following an inter-ministerial meeting under the chairmanship of principal secretary to the Prime Minister in 2004. Around 30 staff of the hotel, who has not been given ... Read more

Cygnett Hotels and Resorts has opened its new business class hotel – CygnettLite Ramachandra near the Visakhapatnam airport. “The hotel will serve tourists and business travellers to the port city and the Cygnetture brand will add value to the local attractions,” said Sarbendra Sarkar, Managing Director and Founder of Cygnett Hotels and Resorts. Sarkar said the hotel chain, with 15 operating hotels in the country, will add nine more properties by December eight more by the end of this financial year. Cygnett Hotels and Resorts is planning to open 103 hotels across 75 cities in India and South Asia in the next ... Read more

A Jodhpur court today convicted Salman Khan in the 1998 blackbuck killing case. His ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ co-stars, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Neelam were acquitted . Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri pronounced the verdict in the case that had been going on for 20 years. Salman was accused of killing two blackbucks on October 2, 1998 in Kankani village in Jodhpur during the shooting of “Hum Saath Saath Hain”. The trial of the case has been in progress for the last 20 years. Salman was facing charges under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. The ... Read more