Stir in Hooghly hits train services

BARUIPARA (HOOGHLY): An eight-hour agitation by vegetable vendors and locals at Baruipara station (about 34km from Kolkata) in Hooghly on Monday disrupted services in the Howrah-Burdwan chord line section.
The trouble erupted over extension of a Baruipara Local to Gurap (32 km from Baruipara towards Burdwan). Several important trains, including the Howrah and Sealdah Rajdhani and Duronto Expresses pass through this stretch.
As many as 19 trains, including two long-distance ones, were held up for several hours at stations. Eastern Railway was forced to cancel the Howrah-Dhanbad Double Decker Express and the Santiniketan Expressdue to the agitation
, resulting in tremendous trouble for passengers. Finally, police had to lathicharge to disperse the mob. Services finally resumed at 4.30pm.
The trouble erupted over extension of a Baruipara local to Gurap (32 km from Baruipara towards Burdwan) by the railways.
The decision to extend the route was taken a few days ago by the railways after due consultation with passengers' associations. On Sunday, it was publicly announced that the local train which left Baruipara for Howrah at 7.47am would henceforth start from Gurap. Notices were also published in newspapers.
On Monday, however, a large number of people, including several hundred vendors, reached the station before 7.47am but found no rake waiting for them. They were then told that the train would come from get there from
Gurap as it had been extended. The crowd, however, claimed that they had no clue of the change in schedule and then squatted on the tracks. After a while, GRP personnel reached the spot and arrested Tukai Pakhira for inciting the mob.
"At this, the number of squatters nearly doubled and they started ransacking the booking counters and other offices.
People from nearby villages turned up to watch the show and ended up joining the squatters," an ER official said. Pranab Banerjee of the passengers' association alleged that the vendors were incited by some Citu leaders. "There was nothing spontaneous about the agitation," he said. ER Chief PRO Samir Goswami said the demand to extend the train to Gurap was an old one and all efforts had been made to inform commuters. "Fortunately, we managed to bring in the Rajdhani Expresses to Howrah and Sealdah via Bandel. We had to cancel two trains though. We also short-terminated a number of local trains," he said.
More than eight hours after the agitation started, authorities tried to reason with the squatters for one more time. When all efforts failed, the police were called in and they resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob. Train services finally resumed in the section around 4.30 pm.