Special Train carrying NE passengers vandalized at Danapur railway station in Bihar

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: A special train carrying over 1,300 stranded persons from Gurugram in Haryana and bound for Nagaland was mobbed by another group of migrants at Danapur railway station in Bihar on Sunday morning. The migrants at Danapur Railway Station in Bihar pelted stones and broke the windowpanes of the train and forcefully entered the special train.

The Khasi Students' Union (KSU) has expressed its concern over the incident wherein people barged into the train and vandalised it.

The train was carrying stranded citizens from Northeast including Meghalaya from Gurugram on May 22.

The president of KSU Delhi unit, Marbiang Khongwir, said, "The incident occurred at around 4:30 am on May 23. There were around 90 persons from Meghalaya." He further said that the Haryana Government had informed them that they would have to go for screening a day before they were to leave. However despite several phone calls, the Nodal Officer did not respond."

This is the same train where a woman from Nagaland died and her body is now being brought by an ambulance from Kanpur.

The KSU Delhi unit president further said that when the train stopped at the Kanpur Railway Station, police did not allow them to buy anything — not even water.

The KSU has urged the Ministry of Railway and the Railway Protection Force to give security to these special trains which will be plying to the north-eastern region from Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and other States.

Meanwhile the central executive council of the KSU has condemned the attack on the special train carrying residents of Northeast. The KSU has urged the Home Ministry to intervene in the matter.

"During this lockdown period, residents of the State returning from various part of the country are being constantly harassed," said KSU president Lambokstarwell Margnar. He also asked the State government to take up the matter with the Center.

Meanwhile, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Sunday spoke to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal after he received complaints that some people travelling back to Northeast from different States were not getting food on the trains. Sangma said that the Railway M inister has assured to look into the matter.  

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