India

NEW DELHI, May 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A train in India ran over migrant workers sleeping on the track on Friday, killing at least 14 of the group, who were apparently on their way to their home villages, the railway ministry and media said.

Tens of thousands of people have been walking home from India’s big cities after losing their jobs because of a lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus since late March.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian train ran over migrant workers sleeping on the track on Friday, killing at least 14 of the group, who were apparently on their way to their home villages, the railway ministry and media said.

Tens of thousands of people have been walking home from India’s big cities after losing their jobs because of a lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus since late March.

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Indian authorities evacuated more people from villages near a South Korean-owned chemical factory where a gas leak a day earlier killed 11 people and left about 1,000 struggling to breathe.

Authorities said the evacuation was precautionary, but it triggered panic among people overnight that another gas leak was occurring.

“No, there was not another leakage,” National Disaster Response Force spokesman Krishan Kumar said Friday.

New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector is on the verge of collapse and urged major industries to release the outstanding dues to such companies within a month.

He said the position of MSMEs was "worst" as they were now engaged in a "battle for their survival".

Mumbai, May 7 (PTI) As many as 531 Maharashtra police personnel, including 51 officers, have tested positive for COVID-19 so far, an official said on Thursday.

Among these infected police personnel, 480 are constables, who are being treated at various hospitals in the state, the official said.

New Delhi, May 6 (PTI) The Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday held a flurry of meetings to fine tune arrangements for evacuation of thousands of stranded Indians from abroad under a mega exercise beginning Thursday.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla held a video-conference with chief secretaries of a number of states as part of efforts to ensure proper coordination in the operation christened 'Vande Bharat Mission', sources said.

As per the plan, the government will start sending flights to various countries from Thursday.

New Delhi, May 6 (PTI) A woman and a man were arrested for allegedly killing her husband in northwest Delhi, police said on Wednesday.

On the intervening night of Friday and Saturday when Sharat Dass (46) was asleep at his house in Jelarwala Bagh, Anita called Sanjay to her house and they smothered Dass to death with the help of a blanket, the officer added.

Bhind (MP), May 6 (PTI) As many as 950 bottles of country liquor, kept in the strong room of a police station here following seizure, have gone missing amid the lockdown, prompting authorities to suspend two policemen and order a probe, an official said on Wednesday.

District superintendent of police Nagendra Singh said he got information that the country liquor missing from the strong room ('malkhana') of the Mihona police station here has been sold during the lockdown, which saw closure of liquor shops.

Agartala, May 4 (PTI) Twenty-two people linked to a Border Security Force battalion in Dhalai district tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, taking the number of cases in Tripura to 64, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said.

The total active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) rose to 62 in the state after 22 people from the 138th battalion at Ambassa tested positive.

Mumbai, May 7 (PTI) The Maharashtra Congress said it has borne the travel expenses of 4,627 migrant labourers who wished to return to their home states amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced that the party's state unit had borne the travel cost of 4,627 migrant labourers, who wished to go to their home states from different parts of Maharashtra in the last two days, a release issued here on Thursday stated.