The movement of trains was badly hit for several hours in Chakradharpur and Adra divisions of South Eastern Railway (SER) on Monday morning due to Jharkhand Dishom Party (JDP)-sponsored ‘Rail Roko’ stir.
JDP activists in support of their various demands took part in the stir at various railway stations- Indrabil, Kantadih and Madhukunda (all in Adra railway division) and Maluka in Chakradharpur division. The agitation began at 6 am and continued till late afternoon.
The stir resulted in cancellation of over half-a-dozen trains including Tatanagar-Dhanbad Express, Bishnupur-Dhanbad MEMU Passenger, Adra-Asansol MEMU Passenger, Asansol-Tatanagar MEMU Passenger, Kharagpur-Hatia Passenger and Asansol-Bokaro Steel City MEMU Passenger.The Tatanagar station assumes importance in view because it is located on the Howrah-Mumbai main route. Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers.
Railway officials informed that a separate counter was opened at the Tatanagar Railway Station to facilitate refund of tickets. “A few passengers had cancelled their tickets when they came to know about the trains,” said a railway official at the reservation counter.But cancelling tickets is easier said than done. “Though there are counters at the station only one is open for cancellations.
We are facing a lot of inconvenience due to this,” said Rakeshwar Rao, who was taking his wife for medical treatment.
Railway authorities said that they were taking necessary steps to help passengers get refunds for cancellation of tickets. “Several passengers who were supposed to catch connecting trains got their tickets cancelled at Tatanagar," said an official.