Sonepur, July 12: Rail traffic was seriously affected on the Sambalpur—Titlagarh route as hundreds of agitators staged dawn to dusk rail roko agitation today at Dunguripali railway station.
They demanded halting of express trains there. Dunguripali is the only railway station of Subarnapur district. Almost all the trains passing through the route were either short terminated or cancelled.
Sources said that Sachetan Nagarik Committee has been agitating for the last few years demanding halting of express trains at Dunguripali, but to no avail. The convener of the Sachetan Nagarik Committee, Bipra Charan Sahu, said the committee had approached everyone starting from Balangir MP to senior railway officials to consider their demand. “Everyone supported our demand and even promised to do their bit, but forgot after some time,” he said.
On December 31 last year, the senior divisional commercial manager of Sambalpur railway division in the presence of Subarnapur district officials had assured that all Bhubaneswar-bound trains would stop at Dunguripali railway station from July 1, 2011. But they could not fulfil their promise,” he rued.
The committee convenor said that the senior divisional commercial manager of Sambalpur, N.N. Patjoshi, held a discussion with the committee members today. “But the talk failed as he didn’t assure us anything to fulfil our demands,” he said.
Public relations officer of Sambalpur railway division Nihar Ranjan Mishra informed that railway traffic was seriously affected on the Sambalpur-Titlagarh route due to the rail roko agitation.
“Several trains were short terminated due to the rail roko at Dunguripali. The Sambalpur-Rayagada Tapaswini Express returned from Bargarh while Howrah-Koraput Samaleswari Express short terminated at Sambalpur. Bhubaneswar-Balangir Intercity Express short terminated at Sambalpur while Koraput-Howrah Samaleswari Express didn’t go beyond Rayagada. The Raipur-Bilaspur passenger train returned from Balangir while Bilaspur-Raipur passenger train short terminated at Jharsuguda,” Mishra said.
