Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Railway officials chose to book transporter for false declaration whereas it could have invoked more stringent provisions relating to carrying inflammable material
Nagpur Division of Central Railway patting its back for intercepting foreign made liquor at Nagpur railway station let the culprit off the hook by invoking lenient clause of false declaration. In fact, RPF could have booked the firm that was transporting the liquor for carrying inflammable goods in the train that could have lead to prosecution.
A railway official informed The Hitavada that Commercial Department and RPF have imposed fine worth Rs 1.10 lakh under Section 163 of Railway Act against the lease holder for false declaration of goods. The consignee simply mentioned that they are transporting some goods but in reality they were transporting costly liquor. This was a case of smuggling foreign liquor to evade payment of excise duty, the officer said. However, reason for not imposing fine for transporting inflammable goods in the trains without prior information could not be ascertained.
Public Relation Officer (PRO) P. D. Patil said that the transporter has been booked for false declaration. “A detailed report has been sent to Northern Railway Headquarters for further action,” said PRO Patil.
Another railway official informed that the division authorities had chance to book the lease holder under section 164 of Railway Act for transporting dangerous products. However division officials opted for simple action to avoid lengthy paper work for invoking sections pertaining to transportation of inflammable material. The officer speaking on condition of anonymity said for inflammable material, it would have to be impounded and later sent to forensic department for certifying it as dangerous.
RPF Inspector Virendra Wankhede informed The Hitavada that an application has been given to State Excise Department for the further investigation. The Excise Department has to decide on further action against the illegal transporter.
Superintendent of State Excise Department Swati Kakde said that the department would write letters to Excise Department of Delhi and Chennai and then only decide line of action. The action will be initiated against the illegal transporter if he had not paid excise duty of importing foreign-made liquor.
After seizing Foreign-made liquor worth lakhs of rupees from Chennai bound trains, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has involved State Excise Department to investigate the case further.
It may be mentioned that RPF’s Nagpur Unit, on Friday night, seized foreign-made liquor from 12616 Delhi-Chennai GT Express, and 12622 Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express at night hours and took the consignments in the custody. The train was detained at Nagpur Railway Station for more than 30 minutes.
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