Jharkhand Train services were grounded to halt in most parts of the state as thousands of rail blockades were carried out by the Kurmi community on Saturday, leaving thousands of passengers trapped in various stations. The activists who are insisting on inclusion of their community in the Scheduled Tribe category sat on the tracks of the railway networks in major silent crossroads such as Muri and Rai in Ranchi, Ghatshila in East Singhbhum, Parasnath in Giridih and Chandrapura in the Bokaro district.
The worst hit was the Howrah-Pune Duronto Express that was stopped at the station of Ghatshila. One of the passengers, a 61-year-old Maloti Ghosh, was in distress because she was going to Pune to meet her ailing daughter. “My daughter is sick, and her two children are left alone. I must reach her somehow. Railway authorities continue promising us, however, nobody knows when the train will start again,” she said. Ghosh also begged the protesters to spare the train, and she had no idea that agitation would happen so much before she boarded.
The other passenger was Shailaja Singh of Bhagalpur, Bihar, who was travelling to Raipur to see her grandson, who was hospitalised. Singh regretted that they were not the only ones suffering, as he was forced to board the train at Kolkata because of the absence of a direct connection. This protest leaves thousands of people in a stalemate.
The Ranchi-Muri station was also stranded, and the Tata-Patna Vande Bharat Express was cancelled at Ranchi after taking hours to commence services, worsening the situation of the passengers. Samir Das, a 40-year-old person who is going to Gaya to conduct rituals of Pitru Tarpan, was not an exception. “I had already made all plans, including hotel reservation, but all now turned uncertain,” he said.
The rail blockades went on despite prohibitory orders under the umbrella of the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj and brought to a crawl the movement of trains in major routes, and passengers were left stranded as no one could tell when the whole situation would end.
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