On the second day of the two-day bandh called by Maoist insurgents, three engines of a jumbo goods train going to Kirandul from Vishakhapatnam got derailed on Thursday as the rebels had removed a rail track near Badekaklur railway station, more than 100 km from Jagdalpur, of East Coast Railway division.
Since speed of the goods train was very slow therefore no casualty was reported in the accident. Due to the accident, movement of all trains on this section has come to a halt and according to railway sources traffic on this stretch will start only by late Thursday evening. Due to the bandh, all trading activities remained suspended in Bastar as also vehicular traffic was completely paralysed.
Notably, in protest of killing of their nine fellow insurgents including some top brass by a joint team of Chhattisgarh police and Greyhound force of Andhra Pradesh in Pamed area of Bijapur district a couple of days back, the Maoist organisations have called two-day bandh in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
The insurgents had reportedly on Thursday morning displaced a whole rail track in between Badekaklur and Kumharsadara railway stations on Jagdalpur- Kirandul stretch. All the three engines pulling the jumbo goods train, returning to Kirandul after unloading iron ore at Vishakhapatnam, got derailed. Since the speed of the train was very slow, no casualty was reported in the accident. After getting the information regarding the derailment, rescue team reached the accident site and started the restoration work on war footing.
Confirming the accident, Jagdalpur railway station master M R Nayak expressed the hope that traffic on this route could be restored by Thursday evening. He also informed that the single Passenger Train operating on the KK line will not be sent to Kirandul as also operation of goods train will remain suspended during night.
Due to the bandh, commercial activities as well as vehicular traffic remained completely paralysed in the division even if no news of violence reported from anywhere. No weekly haat was conducted due to fear of Naxal violence. Though rebels have not put up any pamphlets or posters regarding bandh but at several places on Dantewada-Sukma Road, Bijapur-Basaguda Road and Narayanpur-Orchha Road the rebels choked the traffic by felling trees.