'Exposes govt's poor planning': Gaurav Gogoi on stone-pelting at NE bound Shramik train

Assam parliamentarian Gaurav Gogoi, while condemning the stone-pelting incident at the Northeast bound Shramik Special Train in Bihar, said that the incident has exposed the government’s poor planning and Indian Railway’s mismanagement.

“It is very concerning and discouraging that such a situation has happened at this time of the pandemic. Lack of proper planning by the government as supposed to sending back their migrants and mismanagement by the railway authorities are the reasons,” Gogoi said in a letter wrote to Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal.

He further demanded the union minister to take the matter seriously and appropriate action to prevent such a situation in the near future.

Also read: Assam Reports 39 Fresh COVID-19 Cases, State Count Nears 500

The incident

The train had left Gurugram in Haryana on May 22nd, 2020, with over 1300 passengers, including 426 of Nagaland, to Northeast India.

When the train halted at Danapur near Patna in Bihar on May 24th, 2020, morning, scores of people tried to barge into it, leading to an argument with passengers. When stopped from boarding the Dimapur-bound train, the unruly mob threw stones at the train. Some youth from the Northeast alleged that they were even beaten up by the local policemen.

The stone-pelting culminated as the train neared Katihar where the police finally intervened. It was only at Katihar that a semblance of security was restored. By that time, top Bihar government officials were alerted and the Railway Protection Force entered the scene.

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