Shimla, June 21 (IANS) In a freak accident, a 20-year-old man, who was travelling on the Shimla-Kalka holiday special train, was crushed between the tunnel wall and the rail bogie in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla district Sunday, railway police said.
“Mohd Mohsin, who was leaning out of the train, was killed when he slammed into the tunnel wall this (Sunday) morning near the Tara Devi station in Shimla,” investigating officer Ranbir Singh told IANS.

He said the victim belonged to Saharanpur town in Uttar Pradesh and was travelling with his relatives.

“At the time of the accident, 30-35 people were travelling on the train. Train services came to a brief halt on the railway line after the accident but resumed later,” the official added.

Five trains run between Kalka and Shimla every day. Each toy train – the popular name for it – has seven coaches and can accommodate nearly 200 passengers.

To cater to tourist rush, the railways started three special holiday trains. These trains will continue to run till July 15.

Unesco had included the 30-inch gauge Kalka-Shimla rail line in the list of world heritage sites in July 2008. The scenic journey along the rail line from 640 metres above sea level at Kalka to Shimla at 2,060 metres attracts a large number of tourists.

There are 102 tunnels on the rail line.

Nainital, June 13 (ANI): Nainital’s Bhimtal Lake is home to a large variety of aquatic species. There is an island in the centre of the lake that used to have a restaurant, which fascinated a lot of tourists until its beauty was ruined due to public’s leftovers.

The Nainital Lake Development Authority hence decided to develop an aquarium on the island.

They have converted the restaurant into an aquarium to prevent pollution and clean the lake.

“Earlier, there used to be a restaurant on this island and a lot of tourists used to visit the restaurant. However, tourists used to leave behind waste that used to pollute the lake. The Nainital Lake Development Authority came up with the idea of converting the restaurant into an aquarium to stop the lake from being polluted,” said Dhiraj Gartayal, Secretary of the Nainital Lake Development Authority in Uttarakhand.

A variety of fishes from countries like South Africa, Mexico and China have been kept in the aquarium that are captivating tourists’ attention. They are excited to watch different species of fishes in it.

“I am having fun here. Seriously, it’s really nice to be here and watch different species of fishes. I am watching such species of fishes that I found only in books,” said Sakshi Goel, a tourist.

Developing the aquarium took a year for lake authorities here. The aquarium consists of around 12 ‘aquaboxes’ that contain fishes.

With the introduction of a major new feature, it is hoped anyone visiting Nainital will enjoy here the most.

Nainital is a popular tourist destination in India. By Vipul Goel (ANI)

Nainital (PTI): The Centre plans to establish four new tiger reserves to save the endangered animal under Project Tiger, Union Minister of State for Forest and Environment Jairam Ramesh has said.

“Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa will have one tiger reserve each,” the minister, on a visit to Corbett National Park, told media persons on Saturday.

The country already has 37 tiger reserves.

Mussoorie (PTI): Tourists on a vacation to Mussoorie are having a tough time this summer due to lack of decent accommodation, stinking roads and above all acute shortage of water — fallouts of the indefinite strike by municipal employees of the popular hill station.

Taken up during the peak tourist season, the stir by employees of the water department and safai karamcharis demanding implementation of 6th Pay Commission recommendations has severely hit the town’s water supply and virtually turned the Mall Road here into a garbage dump.

Despite showing an increase of 30 to 40 per cent in tourist arrivals this season, hotel owners said they are forced to turn away prospective customers owing to the shortage of water and occupancy levels have gone down below 50 per cent.

Trying to mitigate the problem, V K Sinha, General Manager, water works department, Mussoorie, said, “The government has formed a committee to look into the demands of striking employees. It will soon take a decision.”

“Till that period, employees should not hold the town to ransom and they should calm down. Tourism forms the lifeline of Mussoorie and this is the peak season,” Mr. Sinha said.

The 2009 monsoon season is underway in Kerala, with the arrival of the south-west monsoon a week earlier than it’s usual date. The southern part of state is currently receiving heavy rainfall.

The monsoon will now make its way across India. Mumbai and the rest of Maharastra isn’t likely to see it until early June though. This is because the presence of cyclone Aila on the east coast of India has weakened the pressure of the monsoon winds, thus slowing its progress.

The cyclone has been producing heavy rainfall, which is expected to continue in West Bengal, Sikkim, and India’s north-eastern states. Kolkata and Darjeeling have been very badly hit, requiring rescue operations to be carried out.

The monsoon is expected to reach Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, by the middle of June.

If you’re traveling to India from the US, Canada or Mexico, it’s likely that you’ll be checked for symptoms of swine flu when you arrive at the airport in India. The virus, which is usually found in pigs, recently started spreading to humans in Mexico and other countries.

Special counters, staffed by doctors and nurses, have been set up at nine international airports in India — Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Goa and Cochin.

One person flying to Hyderabad from Texas in the US was quarantined after exhibiting flu like symptoms. However, it turned out that he fortunately only had a cold.

So far, India has remained free of swine flu but the country is on high alert and preventative measures are being undertaken.

Northern India is melting under a searing heatwave at the moment, In Delhi, the temperature has been consistently hovering around 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit), forcing schools to close early for the summer vacation.

In Uttar Pradesh, the maximum temperature has averaged 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Jhansi has been the hottest place in the state, with a recorded temperature of 45.4 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit). Uttarakhand isn’t much cooler. The temperature at Dehradun reached a 39 year high of nearly 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

Needless to say, the plains of Punjab and the Rajasthan desert are also sweltering under above normal temperatures.

So where can you go to escape the summer heat? The state of Himachal Pradesh is a good option. In Shimla, the temperature reached a 10 year high of only 28.4 degrees Celsius (83 degrees Fahrenheit). Manali also remains relatively cool and has some beautiful scenery.

You can also consider Nainital or Mussoorie as your summer destination this year.

The new domestic terminal 1D at Delhi Airport is all set to open tomorrow. Airlines will be shifting there in phases. Kingfisher Airlines, Kingfisher Red, and IndiGo Airlines are to be the first airlines to operate from the terminal.

The new terminal has been built as part of the upgrade of Delhi Airport. It sounds pretty impressive. The highlights are an in-line baggage screening system (so no need to get your bags x-rayed before check in anymore), 72 check in counters, and eight entry gates. Hopefully, these improvements will reduce a lot of the delays at the airport.

If you’ve flown out of the new terminal, I’d love to hear what you think of it.

Indian Railway has decreased its passenger fares by 2% on Mail Express Trains and Ordinary Trains, effective from April 1, 2009.

The reduction applies to all classes of travel from 1AC to second class unreserved. It doesn’t apply to travel on Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi, Garib Rath and Rajdhani trains though.

Refunds are being offered to those who booked their tickets in advance of the fare revision. However, Indian Railways is yet to determine the procedure for refunds on e-tickets booked over the internet.

In contrast to India’s declining tiger and leopard population, the number of rhinoceroses is on the up and up. There’s been a 10% increase in the rhinoceros population at Kaziranga National Park over the last three years. The park now has over 2,000 of these endangered creatures.

Isolated and picturesque Kaziranga National Park in Assam is home to many threatened species, not just the rhinoceros. The park does however afford a special opportunity to see the prehistoric looking rhino because it’s only one of two parks in India that has them. Sightings are common, and you can explore the park on elephant back.