Call it a bumpy homecoming.

A young migrant worker, who had just alighted from a Kerala train and was standing in queue for the mandatory health screening at Burdwan railway station on Sunday morning, was in for a shock when a part of the false ceiling fell on his head.

Luckily, Samiul Mondal, 22, who returned from Kerala, managed to escape with only minor injuries.

A part of the historic Burdwan railway station surrounding the main entrance had collapsed in January this year, drawing the attention of the authorities to the restoration of the 166-year-old station.

The Eastern Railways had taken two months to repair the collapsed structure by using iron frames to echo the 166-year-old construction.

Workers place a new false ceiling

However, Sunday’s incident revived the criticism that railway authorities allegedly did not do enough to maintain the heritage station building.

Samiul, a resident of East Burdwan’s Nadanghat, who alighted the train from Kerala on Sunday, and queued up under the renovated shed of the station building for his mandatory health screening, had no idea he would get a bump on his head.

“I heard a bang and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the ground in shock. I could see people around me running towards me. Health workers immediately held the right side of my head, which I could feel was swollen,” said Saimul later when he was in a position to speak to the media.

“I don’t know what would have happened to me had the structure been made of concrete,” the youth said ruefully, adding that he was told the fragment that hit him was made of gypsum and not concrete.

“I came back to my home district in the middle of a nationwide lockdown after a three-day train journey, but did not imagine that such a fate would be waiting for me,” he added.

Jaya Sharma, the community health officer who attended to Mondal, said: “I simply screamed in shock as I was standing just a metre away from the youth. He received injuries and we gave him primary treatment. However, the injuries luckily were not serious.”

The injured migrant worker Samiul Mondal.

Eyewitnesses and the health staff present at the station said they also panicked after the false ceiling collapsed.

“The station building collapsed on a January evening. When the false ceiling collapsed, we panicked fearing another disaster and screamed in fear. Many left the station building within seconds,” a health department worker said.

Railway officials started renovation work immediately.

“It was only a small portion of the false ceiling that fell at Burdwan station. The divisional engineer was immediately sent to the spot to look into the matter. No one was seriously injured. Proper steps will be taken (to fix the ceiling),” said Ishaq Khan, the divisional railway manager of Howrah.

“The small piece of false ceiling at the portico of Burdwan station dislodged from the frame. It appears that the gypsum board had swollen due to seepage,” said a senior railway official.

Trinamul leaders in Burdwan on Sunday criticised railway authorities for “shoddy” repairs.

“Sunday’s incident proved that railways repaired the building negligently. Luckily, the migrant worker received only minor injuries. They painted the exterior properly for show, but built the interiors with less than proper care,” said Swapan Debnath, state animal husbandry minister and Trinamul president in East Burdwan.