By IANS,
Howrah: The Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Saturday blamed each other as passengers were stranded at various places en route to the Howrah station in West Bengal and their relatives demonstrated in front of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, who flagged off new trains here.
As many as 22 new trains were flagged off from here and from other stations of the state during the ceremony organised by the railways.
The main programme was presided over by Trivedi here.
Relatives of the passengers of the Azad Hind Express and the Yesvantapur-Howrah Duranto Express protested, alleging that due to the function, many trains scheduled to arrive here before 5 p.m. were stranded.
“Because of this drama (railway programme), my family is stranded near Santragachi for more than five hours. They don’t have water to drink and food to eat…What is the Indian Railways doing?” asked Debabrata Mukherjee.
“Is this an example of the so-called change where passengers are stranded in trains due to programmes of railways? They have cited security reasons behind holding up of the trains,” said Ramesh Barui, whose family was stranded in the Azad Hind Express near Tikiapara.
“Please don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I will enquire about the whole matter,” said Trivedi initially after interacting with the angry relatives.
“This is a handiwork of the CPI-M. They have become mentally unstable. As we have inaugurated 22 new trains, they are feeling jealous. That’s why they have created this problem,” Trivedi told reporters later.
“If trains were really stranded due to this programme, hundreds of people would have gathered here. There were only two or three people,” Trivedi added.
“It is an utter lie that CPI-M is involved behind the whole incident. It is a political conspiracy of Trinamool to defame us,” CPI-M MP Basudeb Acharia said.
“Whenever a train enters a terminating station, it is made to wait for some time due to safety reasons. This is nothing new. The whole incident is a political game. We have identified three people,” said an Eastern Railway official.