PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Sept 20: Train services between Tatanagar and Howrah under South Eastern Railway were severely affected today due to public agitation at Khemasuli between Kalaikundi and Sardiha near Kharagpur.
Sources said the members of various Kurmi outfits squatted on the tracks since 5.35 am over their demand for the inclusion of Kurmi in the ST list.
Heavy deployment of police was made at the spot to avoid any untoward incident.
The Howrah-bound Steel Superfast Express was cancelled. The Ispat Express and Janshatabdi Express from Howrah were also cancelled.
The agitation severely crippled train services as several other trains were cancelled.
The list of cancelled trains also included Tata-Hatia Express, Tata-Asansol MEMU, Jhargram-Tata-Dhanbad MEMU, Tata-Kharagpur Passenger, Tata-Dhanbad Express and Tata-Chakradharpur Passenger.
The Mumbai- Howrah Duronto was diverted via Rourkela and Hatia. The CSMT – Howrah Express and Howrah-bound Azad Hind Express were also running on a diverted route.
The station manager of Tatanagar O P Sharma said movements of a goods train were also severely hampered since morning. The goods train to carry iron-ores from loading points in Dongaposi and other adjoining areas could not operate due to the agitation.
Sources said a section of passengers created a ruckus at Tatanagar when they came to know about the cancellation of Steel Express.
Passengers got back a full refund for the cancelled trains.
