The Radhikapur-Delhi express passes through Kaliaganj station on Friday. Picture by Nantu Dey

Raiganj, Jan. 9: Residents of Kaliaganj have resented the way the Radhikapur-Delhi Express, which was flagged off by Congress MLA Deepa Das Munshi on January 5, trundled past the station.

On that day, Deepa, the wife of ailing Union minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, had announced that the train would stop both at Raiganj and Kaliaganj. But the Delhi-bound train did not stop at Kaliaganj today.

The chairman of the Kaliaganj Municipality, Arun Dey Sarkar of the Congress, said the train was introduced at the initiative of Das Munshi who hails from Kaliaganj. “If the train does not stop at Kaliaganj on the next date of its running (January 16), we shall resort to a rail roko.”

A.K. Das, the assistant station manager of Kaliaganj, said everyday at least 30 passengers were refused tickets because the train did not stop there.

The divisional railway manager of Katihar, B. Raikwar, said till yesterday there was no instruction from the ministry to halt the train at both the stations. “Late last night, I received a message that the train would stop at Raiganj for two minutes.”

The official said the train had stopped at the stations on January 5 following a Congress “request” so that people from both the places could join the inauguration programme. “Usually, an express train does not stop between two stations in a distance of 19km.”

At 9am today, the DYFI demonstrated at Raiganj station, alleging that the Congress had hoodwinked the people by launching the train.

“While the main train runs between Delhi and Jogbani five days a week, the link train from Radhikapur runs once a week,” said Nilkamal Saha, the local committee secretary of the CPM. “Earlier the Congress leader had promised a 10-minute stop at Raiganj which actually now turns out to be a two-minute halt.”

Congress supporters also organised a demonstration at the station. Police, RAF and the GRP were deployed on the premises to keep the situation under control.