Andhra Pradesh Home Minister urges Nirmala Sitharaman to restore train halts at Kovvur station
The Hindu
Home Minister Vanita appeals to Finance Minister Sitharaman to restore halts for trains at Kovvur railway station. Only four trains currently stop there. She seeks stoppages for Tirumala Express, Bokaro Express, Circar Express, Kakinada-Tirupati Express, Simhadri Express, Machilipatnam-Visakhapatnam Express, Rayagada-Guntur Express.
Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Taneti Vanita has appealed to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take steps to restore halts for trains at Kovvur railway station in East Godavari district.
The Home Minister submitted a representation to the Finance Minister, who participated in Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra and other programmes in Vijayawada on December 9 and 10.
Halts for many trains running towards Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, and Odisha, which were cancelled three years ago during the COVID-19 lockdown period, have not been restored, Ms. Vanita told the Finance Minister. Currently, only four trains were stopping at the Kovvur railway station, Ms. Vanita said.
She sought the Union Minister to provide stoppages for Tirumala Express, Bokaro Express, Circar Express, Kakinada-Tirupati Express, Simhadri Express, Machilipatnam-Visakhapatnam Express, Rayagada-Guntur Express and other trains at the station.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.