ROURKELA: Train services were affected on the busy Howrah-Mumbai main line of the South Eastern Railway (SER) on Sunday due to indefinite public agitation at Kalunga near Rourkela over the demand for stoppages of certain trains.
Sources said the movement of at least 20 trains was affected by cancellations, diversion, and short-termination after hundreds of people continued to squat on the railway tracks at Kalunga station as part of the agitation.
The local residents under the banner of the Kalunga Bikash Parishad (KBP) and joined by Congress MLA from Rajgangpur Dr CS Rajen Ekka blocked the railway tracks demanding stoppages of half a dozen super-fast, express and passenger trains.
The KBP leaders claimed at least half a dozen trains including the Samaleswari Express, Tapaswini Express and South Bihar Express had regular stoppages before the COVID-19 pandemic. But the SER secretly withdrew stoppages of these trains after normalisation of train services, they alleged.
The MLA described the demands as genuine and said they were forced to resort to the agitation due to the inaction of the Ministry of Railways. Ekka said people of Kalunga for long have been raising the demand for the restoration of stoppages of the trains.
Though they were assured that their demands would be considered two months ago, nothing has happened, he said, and added the agitation would continue till their demands are met.
The agitation has sent the authorities of the Chakradharpur Division of the SER into a tizzy forcing them to rush to the agitation site to persuade the protesters amid police deployment.
Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (SDCM) and Chakradharpur Division spokesperson Gajraj Singh Charan, who was present at the agitation spot, described it a major disruption as 20 passenger-carrying trains have been affected along with disruption of freight movement.
He said their demands were taken positively and stoppages would be allowed after a commercial feasibility study. Earlier, on February 22 and 23, train services on the route were badly affected due to similar protests at Bamra station.