Services on Konkan Railway (KR) continued to be disrupted for the second consecutive day due to repair work being carried out on nearly 400 metres of railway track between Jite and Pen stations which was washed away on Friday morning.

According to officials of KR, a large number of trains running along their route have been either cancelled or diverted as a result of the incident. The trains cancelled today from Mumbai included the Kurla(T)-Ernakulam Netravati Express, the Kurla(T)-Mangalore Matsyagandha Express, the CST(M)-Madgaon Intercity Express, besides a host of passenger trains. All trains that were meant to pass through the Konkan route from Northern and Western India were diverted along either the Guntakal-Dharmavaram route or the Miraj-Lodha section. Most of the trains coming to Mumbai from South India were diverted along the Guntakal-Dharmavaram route, the one which was used before the Konkan rails were laid.

EC seeks report onBhujbal's plaint

THE Election Commission has sought a report on the allotment of plots by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority after a complaint filed by NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal. ``The EC has sought report on the allotment of plots. I have asked the Housing Department to submit the details of the allotment,'' Chief Electoral Officer D K Sankaran said. In a communication to CEC M S Gill, Bhujbal had alleged that the authority had allotted a record number of 43 plots in blatant violation of code of conduct.

Woman murdered in clinic

A 50-year-old woman was found gagged to death at a private clinic at around 10.45 am today. The woman, Tarabai Eknath Bhosale, a cleaner at the Crematic Mike Dental Clinic at Raghunath Mahadev Street near Mandvi Post office, Pydhonie, was found with crepe bandage stuffed in her mouth by the doctor when he reached his clinic in the morning. Cash amounting to Rs 14,000 was also reported to be stolen. Pydhonie police have registered a case ofrobbery and murder.

Transport strike from July 19

TAXIS, autorickshaws, BEST and State transport buses all over Maharashtra will go off the road from July 19 midnight in protest against the State Government's decision to introduce maxicabs in the State. In a release issued here today by Mumbai Taximen's Union, they stated that they were also going to protest against the fixation of age-limit of motor cab for nine years, replacing of existing mechanical meters of taxis and autorickshaws by electronic meters, exorbitant increase in fees of duplicate MDL, taxi badge and fitness certificate, increase in professional tax, collection of toll tax and harassment by the traffic police.