The crowd at the Tatanagar railway station. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Oct. 30: Chhath is over, not its ordeal!

The revellers coming to Jharkhand and Bihar from far-off places to attend the most rigorous festival of Hindu religion with their relatives are finding their return journey to workplaces an uphill task. Thanks to the long list of wait-list passengers in long distance trains and utter callousness of the Railways in managing the rush.

According to statistics available from the computerised reservation centre at Tatanagar, the number of wait-listed passengers in some long distance trains, including Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express, Howrah-Ahmedabad Express and Howrah-Pune Azad Hind Express, has crossed the 300-mark.

Even as chief reservation supervisor (Tatanagar) A. Sen conceded that the long list of passengers on waiting was due to the Chhath, the South-Eastern Railway turned a blind eye towards the agony of the passengers.

The number of passengers on the waiting-list of Azad Hind Express had crossed the 400-mark yesterday, but just two additional coaches, which could accommodate only 144 passengers, were attached to the train.

The Tata-Katihar Link Express and South Bihar Express are also witnessing an unprecedented rush for the last couple of days as people are returning to the steel city after celebrating Chhath in Bihar. Officials at the reservation centres said the passengers planning to travel in sleeper class are left with no choice but to buy AC tickets.

A section of passengers at Tatanagar claimed that the Railways had miserably failed to provide special trains and enough coaches to take care of the festive rush. “There is no special train during the Chaath even as the railway minister is from Bihar,” said a passenger looking for a confirmed ticket.

Concerned over the huge rush of passengers, the officials of Chakradharpur Division has requested their counterparts in Garden Reach, the headquarters of South Eastern Railway, to increase the number of additional coaches in Azad Hind Express and Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express.

“We are keeping a watch on the situation. This year the rush after the Chhath is more than that in the last year,” pointed out T.K. Bhattacharya, the station manager of Tatanagar.

In view of rush, an extra coach would be added to Hatia-Yashwantpur Express tomorrow. Two extra coaches would be attached to Hatia-New Delhi Swarnjayanti Express on November 1. You can expect better scenario tomorrow, especially in Ranchi, though. Assistant commercial manager P.K. Samal said berths are available in the sleeper class of all the trains, barring Hatia-Alleppey Express, leaving Ranchi tomorrow.