RANCHI: A 61-year-old woman traveling to Pune to see her ailing daughter was among the hundreds of stranded passengers at Ghatshila station in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district on Saturday. The Howrah-Pune Duronto Express was halted due to a rail blockade led by members of the Kurmi community, who are demanding their inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, defying prohibitory orders.
“My daughter, who works in Pune, is unwell. I have to reach there anyhow as her two children are suffering. Railway officials are just giving assurances about train movements, but there is no information on when it will start running,” said Maloti Ghosh, the stranded passenger.
Ghosh expressed her unawareness of any protests in the state, appealing to demonstrators, “I request the protestors to please let the train go so that I can reach Pune and take care of my daughter and her children.”
Another passenger, Shailaja Singh (56), was on her way to Raipur to visit her grandson, who was hospitalized. Singh, a resident of Bhagalpur in Bihar, had boarded the train from Kolkata due to the absence of direct rail connectivity between Bhagalpur and Raipur. “We are not the only ones suffering,” she remarked, adding, “Thousands of passengers are stranded at different stations because of this protest.”
Protestors were observed blocking train movement at various stations, including Muri and Rai in Ranchi, Ghatshila in East Singhbhum, Parasnath in Giridih, and Chandrpura in Bokaro district, under the banner of Adivasi Kurmi Samaj (AKS). At Muri station, the Tata-Patna Vande Bharat Express was stranded for hours before ultimately being canceled.
Samir Das, 40, en route to Gayaji for ‘Pitru Tarpan’ rituals on Sunday, found himself stuck at Muri station. “The train arrived at Muri station around 7:15 am. Since then, it has been stranded due to the protest. I am now in a catch-22 situation as the train has been cancelled,” he explained.
Passengers expressed their frustration after the cancellation announcement. Bipin Bihari Dwivedi (65), a retired telecom employee, said, “We had no prior information about such a large-scale protest. If the railways knew, why did they allow trains like Vande Bharat to run? It was urgent for me to reach Patna.”
Senior divisional commercial manager Suchi Singh confirmed that the Tata-Patna Vande Bharat Express was canceled due to the protest, noting, “Alternative arrangements are being made to bring back the passengers to the originating station.” She stated that efforts to ensure train movement were thwarted by protestors sitting on the tracks.
A statement from the railways indicated that train services in the jurisdiction of the South Eastern Railway (SER) and Dhanbad division of the East Central Railway (ECR) were partially affected due to the agitation by the Adivasi Kudmi Samaj. It reported that at least three trains, including Hatia-Barddhaman Memu and Tatanagar-Gua-Tatanagar Memu, were canceled, while one was short-terminated and four were delayed.
