Attacks and vandalism on Northeast-bound trains in Bihar generated widespread reactions on Monday with Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh appealing to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to book miscreants immediately.
“I strongly condemn the attack on a special rain, ferrying stranded people from Goa to my state,” said chief minister N Biren.
“A mob attacked the train on Sunday when it halted in Bihar. I appeal to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to book miscreants immediately. Requesting Railway Minister to look into this,” said the Manipur CM.
A special rain with more than 1,300 persons from the Northeast onboard was mobbed at Danapur railway station in Bihar on Sunday.
The Shramik Special train which started from Gurugram in Haryana on Thursday reached New Jalpaiguri (NJP) railway station in West Bengal later in the evening on Sunday.
As the news spread like wildfire, members of Seva Bharati, an NGO, provided food and water to all the passengers.
They also provided medical assistance top the passengers.
The train was expected to reach Dimapur by 5.45 am on Sunday, but it got delayed by over 16 hours.
It may be mentioned that the Railway Ministry has been running special trains to ferry stranded people to their home state due to the lockdown.
The Meghalaya government, after coming to know about the incident, took up the matter with the Bihar and Delhi governments through the chief secretary and DGP.
The Meghalaya chief secretary also took up the matter with the chairman of the Railway Board seeking immediate intervention and protection for citizens of not only Meghalaya and but other Northeast states as well who are traveling in the same train.
The Meghalaya DGP, R. Chandranathan also swung into action and spoke to his counterpart in Bihar as well as the DG of Railway Protection Force seeking immediate intervention.