Statesman News Service
MALDA, 21 SEPT: Left stranded at Malda Town Station, angry passengers of the Mujaffarpur-Jasbandpur today blocked rail at the station for over an hour when they learnt that the train had been rerouted and would not come to Malda Town Station.
Around 150 stranded passengers included patients who had reservation tickets for Vellore and Bangalore and were to go to those places for treatment, could not board the train.
Trouble broke out after the passengers saw a notice declaring rerouting of the train.
They urged the Malda Town Station master to make alternative arrangements for travel to Vellore and Bangalore as they had appointments with doctors.
The stationmaster expressed his inability to accommodate all the passengers in the Bangalore bound trains and offered refund on their tickets instead.
Angered with the railway decision the stranded passengers blocked train movement at the station following which, the station authority asked police to disperse the agitators.
The agitators then gharoaed the station authorities demanding alternative arrangements as most of them wanted to travel and were not in favour of cancelling their tickets.
The stationmaster informed he would try to accommodate them if vacant seats were available on south India bound trains from Guwahati.
One of the stranded passengers, Mr Shankar Das, said: “We are in trouble. We had to block the tracks demanding an alternative arrangement but police roughed us up to withdraw the block. I do not know how my family would meet the doctors on schedule at Vellore.”
The DRM in Malda Mr MK Mathur said: “We can do nothing when trains are diverted due to some technical problem. I do not know if reserved seats would be available in other trains. They can avail general compartments now.”
No comments:
Post a Comment