Chinsurah, Dec. 25: A 45-year-old worker of India Jute Mill in Serampore was run over by a local train early this morning following which the mill employees stopped work.

The mill worker, Lalu Singh, was knocked down beside the track between Serampore and Seoraphuli railway stations in the dense fog that covered the area.

Singh, an employee of the spinning unit of the jute mill, was an active member of a trade union affiliated to a Naxalite faction.

Immediately after the worker?s death, members of the mill?s union stopped work at the mill and demanded action against railway personnel for Singh?s death.

However, Paltu Sen, the leader of the union, claimed that the workers did not organise any strike at the mill.

?But the production came to a halt as the workers at the jute mill protested the incident spontaneously,? said the union leader.

An officer of the Bandel Government Railway Police said the train driver could not see the man beside the tracks because of the heavy fog in the morning.

?Railway drivers are finding it difficult to see railway tracks clearly. Simultaneously, people are facing the same problem while crossing railway tracks,? a senior GRP official said.

However, Sukumar Nandi, inspector of Bandel GRP, said railway tracks in Serampore, Seoraphuli, Baidyabati and other areas were used by sellers of illicit liquor even in the morning.

?We have reports that several hooch dens have come up beside railway tracks in Serampore and Seoraphuli stations,? Nandi said.

?Parts of fencing along the railway tracks have also been found missing in many places. Naturally, the possibility of accidents and people being run over by local trains in the two stations is very high,? the official said.

The GRP official said they would soon send a report on the problem to the superintendent of railway police in Howrah.