Jamshedpur: Villagers block Railway track at Gidhni, disrupt train schedules

Jamshedpur/Chakulia, September 25: In protest against the removal of a gate by the railway at Gidhni between Chakulia and Jhargram stations under Kharagpur Railway Division, the local villagers blocked the rail from 5.45 am on Saturday. 
Due to this, the movement of trains on this section was disrupted for about four hours. The Tata Howrah Steel Express had to be halted at Chakulia for about two and a half hours. Assistant Divisional Railway Engineer SK Mohapatra and Senior Section Engineer Gaurang Pal reached the spot from Jhargram on the information of rail traffic jam. Both the officers kept explaining to the villagers for a long time. Finally, on the basis of the instructions received from the senior officers, he assured the villagers to conduct a survey within two days to open the gates or provide another alternative route.

After this, the villagers left the railway track at 9:30 and rail traffic resumed. However, there were many other demands of the villagers who jammed the rail, including the extension of Tatanagar Chakulia Passenger and Santragachi Jhargram Passenger up to Gidhni station and ensuring stoppage of Howrah Tata Steel Express and Howrah Titlagarh Ispat Express at Gidhni. 
The main reason behind the rail blockade by the villagers in Gidhni was problems due to the closure of the gates. Actually, the problem of the people of Gidhni is that their village is on one end of the railway track while the agriculture farm is on the other side. Due to the closure of the gates, the villagers are facing a lot of trouble in getting the paddy harvested.
For this reason, people are demanding to restart the gate or to build an underpass under the railway track. When the railways did not pay heed to their demand, they got angry and blocked the rail wheel on Saturday.
Passengers in the Steel Express going from Tatanagar to Howrah,  had to face lot of problem and rely on social workers  who arranged pure drinking water, biscuits etc. for them. Incidentally,  during the Corona period, due to the absence of a pantry car in the train, the train passengers are unable to get the necessary food items. Even the water available at the station is not potable.