Education dept puts teacher recruitment 'on hold' in Daribhit High School till Oct 5

Kolkata: State Home Secretary Atri Bhattacharya on Tuesday wrote to the Railways including the Metro, requesting them to make necessary arrangements to ensure normal running of trains.

The letter was sent to the General Managers of Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway and Northeast Frontier Railway, as well as the General manager of Metro Railway.

The letter further stated that the district and government Railway Police have been instructed to ensure that there is no interruption or stoppage of train movement due to squatting on railway tracks or similar types of blockades.

The Home Secretary's letter assumes significance as train services of SER, particularly in the Kharagpur division, was badly affected on Monday till Tuesday afternoon, due to blockade by an umbrella organisation of the Adivasis, who demanded official recognition of their language.

According to Nabanna sources, the state administration was displeased with the efforts of the railway police in removing the protesters who had encroached on the tracks at places like Nekusini, Khemasuli, Balichak and Salboni, where the encroachment continued till Tuesday afternoon.

Passengers at Howrah Station were deeply inconvenienced due to the series of cancellations. "I had to take my sick father for treatment. I waited for so many hours but to no avail," a passenger said.

A number of passengers who arrived at Howrah Station in the late afternoon, complained of scarcity of food and water as they remained stuck for several hours.

As many as six long distance trains were cancelled by SER on Tuesday. The Howrah–Secunderabad Falaknuma Express, the Howrah–Bhubaneswar Jan Shatabdi Express, Howrah-Yesvantpur Duranto Express and Haldia-Asansol Express were cancelled for want of link rake. The Shalimar-Bhubaneswar Examination Special and the Santragachi-Paradeep Express were also in the cancel list.

A number of trains that were rescheduled, included the Shalimar-Chennai Central Express that left Shalimar at 18.30 hrs instead of 12.10 hrs, the Howrah-Yesvantpur

Humsafar Express that left Howrah at 20.55 hrs instead of 12.40 hrs and the Howrah-Purulia Express that left Howrah at 19.15 hrs instead of 16.50 hrs.

A spokesperson of SER said that some passenger special trains were pressed into service by SER that included Howrah-Kanniyakumari Special

from Howrah at 16.10 hrs and Santragachi-Puducherry Special from Santragachi at 15.50 hrs.