Several trains, including Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express, were stranded for hours at various stations in the Howrah division of Eastern Railway on Sunday after around 1,000 people blocked the tracks in Birbhum’s Muraroi station for four hours.
The protesters, under the banner of the Muraroi Nagarik Mancha, a citizens’ forum comprising leaders of prominent parties, including the Trinamul Congress and the BJP, demanded the resumption of the services cancelled when Covid-19 struck.
The protest took place on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation stones to revamp 508 railway stations across the country, including 37 in Bengal, as “Amrit Bharat” stations. The Centre will spend Rs 24,770 crore on them.
“The railways did not resume services of at least five local trains cancelled during the early lockdown. The railways hiked the fare of local trains by five times during Covid-19, renaming those as special trains. We went for a major movement (on Sunday) after numerous applications with our demands to railway authorities didn’t get a response in the past two years,” said Kabirul Islam Saif, a forum member and Muraroi resident.
The protesters blocked the tracks at 7.30am. A Burdwan-bound local train stopped at Muraroi station and a Vande Bharat Express stopped at Nalhati station for around three hours. A source said at least six local trains and two express trains got delayed in the blockade that lasted till around 11.30am. It was lifted after railway officials promised to look into the demands.
Muraroi, around 90km from Santiniketan, is located at the extreme north of Birbhum, bordering Murshidabad and Jharkhand. Protesters said at least five lakh people from Birbhum, Murshidabad and Jharkhand use Muraroi station to reach north Bengal and Calcutta.
“We welcome the initiative of redeveloping 500-plus railway stations. But he (PM Modi) should focus on alleviating basic problems of common commuters first,” added Saif.
The Muraroi Nagarik Mancha was formed two months ago with local leaders of Trinamul, the BJP, the Congress and the CPM.
