Title - Trains roll, travellers complain

Passengers who were stranded at stations in north Bengal for two days have said no team from the railways came to help them, whether with water, food or medical aid. "My children, Amon and Cherry, are suffering from gastro-enteritis. I had asked the station manager of New Cooch Behar repeatedly last night to arrange for a doctor. But till this afternoon, no doctor has attended to my children. I bought mineral water bottles from outside the station," said Sanjoy Jain, a passenger in the B7 coach of the Dibrugarh-bound Rajdhani Express. He said: "Later, local MLA Rabindranath Ghosh gave us ORS packs and I gave those to my children." Jain's train rolled towards Assam at 3.25pm today. Eight other trains, too, left for the neighbouring state this afternoon. But railway sources said no train was allowed to cross the border after dark as a precaution. The first train to leave north Bengal, from Alipurduar, was the Sampark Kranti Express at 2.45pm. In the next 30 minutes, five other trains left for Guwahati. Service resumed after a pilot train from Alipurduar reached Assam's New Bongaigaon station without being attacked on the way and made its way back to Alipurduar this afternoon. "From 2.45pm today, trains have started moving towards Guwahati after the paramilitary force took charge of passing the trains in a 54km-stretch (from Srirampur to Salakati) in Kokrajhar where clashes have been taking place," said Shitushing Hajong, the public relations officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway from Maligaon, Assam. Eleven trains were stranded in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar since Monday because of the ethnic clashes in Assam's four Bodo districts ' Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang. Of the 11, nine trains resumed their onward journey while the Capital Express was emptied and turned back to Danapur. It will pick up passengers waiting for the Down Capital Express in stations in north Bengal and in other states. The 11th train, a Guwahati-bound Rajdhani, has been halted at New Alipurduar station as it became dark. A number of children in the stranded trains fell ill yesterday. Today, Trinamul Congress leaders, NGOs and social organisations in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar distributed mineral water bottles, baby food, milk and ORS packets among the travellers. Some local organisations, mostly of businessmen, prepared breakfast and lunch outside New Cooch Behar, Alipurduar junction and New Alipurduar stations where travellers were seen lining up for a meal of khichdi. Jain, the Rajdhani passenger, said: "We were unable to bathe. The toilets in the train have not been cleaned. We are in unhygienic environment. Last night, railway officials asked us to vacate the train and told us the train would go back to New Delhi. But we refused to get off." Kamalesh Yadav, a passenger in B5 compartment of the Rajdhani, said his wife and little daughter Arati were both suffering from high fever. He, too, said no railway doctor was sent to check on the passengers. "After some time, the AC stopped working and we were very uncomfortable. We thank the local organisations for the help they provided," he said. Ashish Trivedi, an army jawan posted in Jorhat and travelling on the Awadh-Assam Express that halted at New Alipurduar, said: "Many passengers did not get food. Many passengers don't have enough money. The hotels near the station are also unable to provide us with decent food." Trinamul leader Joachim Buxla, who is the chairman of the passenger service committee of the railway board, said over phone from New Delhi: "The general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway told me that they were providing all services to the passengers. But I told him the claim is false because the passengers are complaining to me that they are not getting anything from the railways." Railway sources said the Guwahati-bound Trivandrum Express has been halted at New Alipurduar and yesterday's and today's Guwahati Rajdhanis have been stopped at New Cooch Behar because no trains are being allowed to pass through Assam at night.