Rly staff protest against crew management of Vande Bharat from Alipurduar Junction

SILIGURI: The New Jalpaiguri branch of the Northeast Frontier Railway Employees Union staged a sit-in protest against the decision of conducting crew management of the Vande Bharat Express train from Alipurduar Junction instead of New Jalpaiguri Railway Station.

On Thursday, the union staged a protest at the ADRM office in the New Jalpaiguri area.

It is reported that another Vande Bharat Express train is scheduled to start from New Jalpaiguri to Guwahati. According to the union, the railways have decided that the crew management of the train will be done from the Alipurduar Junction.

The employees opposed the decision stating that this will decrease the importance of New Jalpaiguri Railway Station.

Bhashkar Tar, branch secretary of the union said: “We have all the equipment and eligible staff at the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station. Then why the crew management will take place from Alipurduar? It will decrease the importance of our station.”

Meanwhile, they also raised a demand for Travel Allowances(TA) from the protest stage. They alleged that escort staff of NJP-Dhaka Mithali Express have not received their TA bill yet. The train was launched on June 1. They alleged that the escort staff did not receive their TA bill since the day of launching.