RailEnquiry

Asansol : Maoist abductions of railway employees in Bihar had its echoes 142km away in Bengal as a Punjab-bound train was stalled for nearly three hours in Asansol, reviving memories of the Jnaneswari Express sabotage and sparking panic among passengers as rumours of a rebel attack and an accident spread. The Amritsar-bound Akal Takht Express from Sealdah was halted at Asansol station from 10.40am after suspected Maoists abducted 19 railway employees in Bihar's Jamui, a rebel stronghold. Among them was the station manager of Ghorparan. All of them were taken to a forest but released later. The railways decided to stall all trains passing through the area. The Akal Takht Express was the only train from Bengal that was stopped. Two years ago, Maoists had been blamed for the derailment of the Jnaneswari Express in which around 160 people had died. After the express was derailed, it was hit by another train coming from the opposite direction. Night train services were suspended along the Kharagpur-Adra, Kharagpur-Tatanagar and Rourkela-Chakradharpur sections after the attack. Normal services resumed this January. Today, the passengers of the Akal Takht Express complained the railway authorities did not inform them why the train was stopped. "We don't know anything. Can you tell me what exactly has happened. I have heard about a Maoist strike at a nearby station," Manju Kumari asked this correspondent at Asansol station. Uttarpara resident Manju, 33, was going to Uttar Pradesh to attend a wedding. Amit Tekriwal, another passenger, said he heard from a vendor that a train accident had taken place at a nearby station. "I thank my stars that I am not on that ill-fated train. Do you know how many people have died?" he asked this correspondent. The passengers alleged the rumours spread because of lack of information from the railways. Even though the train got held up, the ACs, fans and lights functioned properly. Many passengers got off and flocked to stalls on the platform to buy hand fans, drinking water and soft drinks. Although the heat was not as searing today as it had been in the past few days, the cloud cover made the weather sultry. "It was stuffy inside the train. So we had to get off," said Baljeet Singh, 35, who was returning to Amritsar after a visit to a relative's home in Calcutta. The divisional railway manager of Asansol, J.N. Jha, admitted that the authorities could not inform the passengers why the train had been held up. "We were busy speaking to the police and the administration in Bihar and also our railway protection force officials to ensure the safety of the passengers on the Akal Takht Express," he said. "After a thorough inspection, we decided to let the trains halted at several stations pass. I am sorry if the passengers became worried and panicked," Jha added. The train left at 1.22pm.