KOLKATA: Thousands of railway passengers headed to Kolkata or out of Bengal had an agonizing time on Friday as more than 30 long-distance trains were cancelled and several others were short-terminated or rescheduled owing to blocks and even attacks by Army aspirants, protesting against the Agnipath recruitment scheme. Tourists, office-travellers, elderly residents and even examinees were either stranded or they struggled to reach their destinations safely.
Among the major trains cancelled were Hyderabad-Shalimar East Coast Express, Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma Express, Howrah-Amritsar Mail, Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express, Howrah-Jammu Tawi Himgiri Express, Howrah-Patna Janshatabdi and Howrah-Dehradun Upasana Express. Passengers on Hyderabad-Shalimar East Coast Express had a traumatic experience when suddenly a mob, many of them wearing masks and brandishing sticks and metal rods, boarded the compartments around 9am. A group of elderly people returning to Kolkata from Hyderabad said they were so terrified that they ran out of the train, leaving behind their luggage and even Aadhaar cards.
“I was in S11 compartment, when there was a commotion on the platform. Two-three men entered our coach. . . They allowed us to vacate the train as they started breaking glasses and vandalising the train. It was scary,” said an elderly Kolkata resident, stuck in Hyderabad. Another Bengali passenger on the same train, who had to catch a connecting train to Siliguri from Sealdah on Saturday night, said he later booked a flight and hoped to make it to the connecting train.
