GUWAHATI, June 3 ? Frequent agitational programmes like bandhs, rail roko agitations, picketing, dharna, obstructions etc in the last few years not only resulted in financial loss to the Railways but also affected the movement of people and goods to this backward region of the country.
According to records available with the NF Railway, the areas under the juridiction of this Railway witnessed 132 bandhs, 24 Rail Roko programmes, one picketing, 17 obstructions, 15 dharnas on the tracks etc in the year 2000. In the year 2001, the area witnessed 112 bandhs, 28 Rail Roko agitations, one picketing, 50 obstructions and 22 blockades, in 2002, the area witnessed 114 bandhs, 22 Rail Roko agitations, 18 obstructions and 17 blockades, while upto the end of March this year, there were 22 bandhs, six Rail Roko agitations, 14 obstructions and four blockades. Interestingly, in most cases, the agitational programmes had nothing to do with the Railways and the organisations calling for agitational programmes target the Railways to gain publicity to their cause. Railway sources said that in Assam, the Railways get cooperation from the state police to clear the tracks to ensure movement of trains, which is not the case in Bengal and Bihar where the state police very often remain silent spectators.
Commenting on the loss suffered by the Railways due to the agitational programmes, the Chief Public Relations officer of the NF Railways Smt Leena Sarma said that on an average 240 trains run under the NF Railway everyday, carrying about 1.50 lakh passengers and on long distance trains, the Railways earn Rs two lakh per train. But the suffering of the passengers cannot be estimated in monetary items. She revealed that once train services are disrupted due to an agitational programme, it takes at least three days for the situation to become normal. She pointed out that the passengers sometimes buy tickets 60 days in advance and whenever a train is cancelled due to agitational programmes, all the travel plans of the passengers are disrupted as it is not possible to accommodate passengers in the next available trains, while the Railways are also not in a position to run extra train for the benefit of the travelling public. Sometimes, the trains have to be stopped enroute due to agitational programmes, but Smt Sarma said that on such occasions, efforts are made to stop the trains on stations to reduce the sufferings of the passengers.
The financial loss of the Railway during agitations is much more on goods trains as on an average, the Railways earn about Rs 40 lakh per goods train. Smt Sarma said that on an average, about 50 inward and outward goods trains move within the NF Railways but more than the financial loss, disruption of the movement of goods trains totally disrupt the movement of essential commodities to the region. Most of the essential commodities are imported to this region from outside and the road transport system cannot cope with the requirement. According to figures available, 17 million tonnes of goods are brought into the region every year, which include food grains, salt, sugar, cement, steel bitumen, petroleum products, fertilisers etc, and disruption of train movement due to agitation may result in shortage of all these essential items. The items exported outside the region from the North-East by Railways include coal, petrol, oil and lubricants, gypsum, bamboo chips, paper, limestone etc, and every year the Railways transport about seven to eight million tonnes of goods out of the region. However, Railway sources expressed the hope that the situation would ease out to a great extent after completion of the gauge conversion work, which would give a second BG line between New Jalpaiguri to Rangiya.