Migrants aboard Mumbai-Patna Exp create chaos at rly station
   Date :14-May-2020

Migrants jostling _1 
 Migrants jostling during distribution of food packets and water bottles at Jabalpur Railway station. (Pic by Anil Tiwari)
 
Staff Reporter :
 

As per the labourers, they were deprived of food and water since they started journey from Mumbai
 
 
A large number of migrant labourers who boarded the Mumbai-Patna Shramik Express created chaos on Wednesday soon after the train reached Jabalpur Railway station. The migrants, who started the journey from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai, were denied food and water bottle during the journey and became excessively aggressive. However at Jabalpur, the migrants were supplied food packets along with water bottles.
 
According to information, chaos was reported at Jabalpur station soon after the Mumbai-Patna Shramik Express arrived at platform number 6. The migrants were hungry since the time they started their journey from Mumbai and failed to control their anger. After the commotion, the GRP and RPF swung into action to avert vandalism. Despite the fact that the migrants were served food and water bottles, they raised objections against the Railways for denying them food during the course of their journey. Migrants asserted that from Mumbai to Jabalpur, a distance of around 990 kilometres, they were faced with problems in procuring food and water. However at Jabalpur after the railway authorities ensured food, they were partially pacified.
 
The migrants however continued the agitation and in the process, the train was stopped for additional time. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Jabalpur, Basant Kumar Sharma, when contacted, said, “as soon as the train departs from the originating station, we seek information on number of migrants travelling in the train. Accordingly we arrange food packets along with water bottles for them. We keep reserve stock so that none of the migrants are deprived of food packets and water bottles. What happened on this journey will be found out. On Wednesday, 15,112 food packets were distributed among passengers aboard 10 Shramik Expresses at Jabalpur Railway Station,” he added.