Title - Medical help at station

Tatanagar railway station has constituted a medical assistance team to cater to passengers of Chennai-Guwahati Express, which passes through Tatanagar. The team was constituted following a directive from the Railway Board. The directive came in the wake of a huge rush of passengers in that train, following ethnic violence in Assam. Confirming the development, chief medical supervisor at Tatanagar S.K. Behra said the medical team is headed by a qualified doctor, assisted by other staff. "We will also involve scouts and guides of Tatanagar Railway School in providing medical aid to passengers of the train. The team with necessary medicines will reach the railway station before the arrival of the train on its to and fro journey," said Behra. The Chennai-Guwahati Express runs twice a week. On its onward journey (on Wednesday and Saturday) the train reaches Tatanagar at 3.25am and after a halt of 10 minutes it leaves at 3.35am. On the return journey (on Saturday and Tuesday), the train reaches Tatanagar at 3.05pm and departs at 3.15pm. Officiating station manager of Tatanagar Rajendra Prasad said an announcement will be made through the public address system about medical assistance as soon as the train reaches Tatanagar. "A medical booth will be set-up on the platform on which the train arrives. Moreover, the medical staff accompanied with scouts and guides would visit the bogies asking passengers to avail medical assistance if they required so," said Prasad. Railway officials revealed that the Guwahati-bound train which arrived at Tatanagar on Saturday witnessed a heavy rush of passengers. "A sizeable number of people hailing from the north-east who are employed in various organisations in the southern part of the country preferred to return to their hometowns fearing a backlash. This resulted in a huge rush in that train," said a senior railway official at Tatanagar. Officials in Garden Reach, the Calcutta-based headquarters of South Eastern Railway (SER) revealed that yesterday, two special trains were pressed into service on the Bangalore-Guwahati and Pune-Guwahati route to ferry passengers. According to an official, the medical assistance facility is being provided only for this particular train (Chennai-Guwahati Express). The facility will continue till further directives from the Railway Board.