Dera followers’ disruption hits rail traffic

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, September 21

Many long-route trains were running late by several hours due to the agitation by Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda followers against the unannounced ban on MSG-2, causing huge inconvenience to the public.

During the last two days, the protesting dera supporters squatted on rail tracks and obstructed movement of trains to demand the screening of the movie made by dera chief Sant Ram Rahim Singh, which led to the cancellation of several trains on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur section, while a large number of trains on trunk routes were held up mid way and delayed.

Passengers travelling on the Delhi-Amritsar section were the worst sufferers as both elite Shatabdi Express and Shan-e-Punjab Express were running behind schedule by more than five hours.

The 12029 New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi (morning) was delayed by 5.25 hours, while its corresponding train from Amritsar to New Delhi (evening) was running late by 3.50 hrs. Similarly, 12497 and 12498 Shan-e-Punjab Superfast Express trains on this section were late by 5.40 hrs.

Quite a few other long haul trains were running way behind schedule. Among these were 12716 Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express (8.20 hrs), 12208 Jammu-Kathgodam Garib Rath (5.05 hrs), 12331 Howrah-Jammu Tawi Himgiri Express (7.50 hrs),19028 Jammu Tawi-Bandra (Mumbai) Vivek Express (5.32 hrs),12411 Chandigarh-Amritsar Intercity Express (3.40 hrs), 11057 Mumbai CST-Pathankot Express (3.50 hrs), 18101 Tatanagar-Jammu Tawi Express (3.46 hrs) and12317 Sealdah-Amritsar Akal Takht Express (3.05 hrs).

Some other trains which were running late by one-and-a-half to two hours included 14037 Delhi-Pathankot Express, 12715 Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand Express, 12054 Amritsar-Haridwar Jan Shatabdi Express, 12471 Bandra (Mumbai) -Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Swaraj Express, 12919 Indore-Jammu Tawi Malwa Express and 12476 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Hapa Sarvodaya Express.

With a delay of three to five hours in Delhi-bound trains (Shatabdi and Shan-e-Punjab), there was a heavy rush of passengers for the cancellation of their reserved tickets and those manning the reservation counters had a tough time coping up with them.

Dinesh Kumar, who was to travel to Delhi in the evening Shatabdi train and catch a late-night international flight, said he had no other choice but to cancel the ticket and travel by taxi to make it to Delhi airport on time. Several other intending travellers like him were critical of the government for letting one or the other group of protesters disrupt rail traffic every now and then.

“When railways have nothing to do with the issue being raised by protesting groups, why are trains targeted and inconvenience caused to thousands of people besides causing immense financial loss to the exchequer?” they asked.