Bandh: About 100 local trains cancelled

Kolkata: The 12-hour bandh called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday severely disrupted train services in the Sealdah and Howrah divisions of Eastern Railways (ER). Public obstructions, including the throwing of banana leaves at overhead wires, led to the cancellation of 100 local trains.

Multiple stations in both divisions were affected, causing significant inconvenience to commuters. In the Sealdah Division, disruptions occurred on sections like Sealdah-Barrackpore, Naihati-Ranaghat, Krishnanagar-Lalgola, Ranaghat-Aranghata, Ranaghat-Santipur, Bangaon-Barasat, Barasat-Bashirhat, Diamond Harbour-Baruipur, Canning-Sonarpur and Baruipur-Lakshmikantapur. Similarly, in the Howrah Division, stations such as Hind Motor, Mankundu, Hooghly, Konnagar, Uttarpara, Shrirampur, Bally, Chandannagar, Rishra, Katwa, Singur, Rampurhat, Mugra, Gurap and Belur were impacted. Due to the obstructions, 90 local trains were cancelled in Sealdah and 10 in Howrah. Normal train services resumed in both divisions around 11:10 am. Train operations in the Malda and Asansol divisions remained unaffected. Meanwhile, the Kolkata Metro continued to operate normally throughout the day on all corridors, recording around 2.2 lakh passengers.