Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, September 4
It was not a special train; but the passenger on board was singular!
A law student from BHU kept the entire railway authorities on toes and forced them to run the scheduled train with her as the sole passenger. And it all happened after much hullabaloo at the Daltonganj station.
Ananya was among 900 passengers who boarded the New Delhi-Ranchi Rajdhani. As the train entered Daltonganj station at around 6.30 am Thursday, it was detained following the agitation of local tribals-Tana Bhagat. Demanding forest rights, the protesters had blocked the track at Tori station.
With no sign of clearing the tracks, the railways officials along with local administration offered buses to the stranded passengers to reach Ranchi—about 300 kms. The Deputy Commissioner of Palamu and the local railway officials made all other passengers agree but Ananya contested and refused.
“I had paid for the Rajdhani express and would travel only by train,” she put the authorities in a fix by claiming so. She was even offered a separate car to Ranchi but she refused. She told the railway officials it was her right to reach her destination by the train in which she had berth in B-1 coach.
Despite hectic parley, Ananya was not convinced and forced the railway authorities to take her to the destination by train that was diverted through a longer route via Gaya and Bokaro. For her safety women jawans of RPF were deployed in the train.
When the Rajdhani reached Ranchi in the wee hours today, limited persons besides railway staff were stunned to see an “empty” train chugging into the platform.
Ananya disembarked the train and was welcomed by her father Mukesh Kumar Chaudhury, an engineer in Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC).
The senior divisional commercial manager, Awnish Kumar clarified that the train was brought to Daltonganj as railways anticipated that the agitation would be called off. As no positive development took place, the stranded passengers were sent by buses with the help of district administration.
Senior DCM in a statement said around 3 pm of September 3, on the basis of pure technical reasons, the Rajdhani Express was allowed to run to Ranchi via Gaya, Gomoh, Bokaro steel city.
