Protest after non-staffers told to get off special train

Kolkata: Nearly 200 people squatted on the tracks at Sonarpur station on Thursday morning after being asked to get off a Sealdah-bound local train meant for railway employees. The police had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse the mob which started pelting stones at the train and authorities. It is the fear of incidents such as these that has kept the railways from resuming local train services in the Kolkata suburbs. Authorities are well aware that crowd management will be a major problem in most suburban stations, unlike in the Metro Railway network.

“We couldn’t allow normal commuters on this train as it was meant for only railway employees. When asked to get off, they created trouble and we had to disperse them. Some people have been detained,” said V B Chandra Sekhar, superintendent of railway police, Sealdah.

Among those who participated in the agitation were people who used to commute to Kolkata by train for work from the southern suburbs, including many employed as domestic helps. They maintained that there was no harm if they squeezed into coaches of the special trains that were bound for Sealdah anyway.

Over the past few days, many people from Kolkata have tweeted to the ministry of railways on how all rules are being flouted in these “staff specials” by people who have nothing to do with the railways. This jeopardizes the health of railway employees.


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