Employee union protest strands many at City railway station

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, April 08, 2015, DHNS:  Thousands of passengers at the City Railway Station were inconvenienced for over two hours on Tuesday evening when members of the South Western Railway Mazdur Union (SWRMU) protested there, leading to delay of at least half a dozen trains from 6:30 pm.

The members of the union were protesting against the arrest of a Chief Commercial Supervisor (Parcels) A R Panduranga on Sunday while he was on duty.

The protest by agitators from various sections, including those responsible for running of trains, led to chaos at the station, which had thousands of passengers waiting for trains to start.

The passengers complained that no information was provided to them regarding the rescheduled timings of trains, and they had no option but to wait for the ruckus to subside.

The trains affected included the Arakkonam-Bengaluru train, Bengaluru-Ernakulam Express, Bengaluru-Mysuru passenger train, the Mysuru-Golgumbaz and the Mysuru-Mailaduthurai passenger trains. Owing to their delay, two others trains—Rajdhani Express and Karnataka Express—were also delayed, much to passengers’ inconvenience.

The protesters claimed an auction of vehicles, including two wheelers abandoned at the Railway premises, took place a year ago after proper procedure was followed. They said Panduranga, who was a part of the auction, has been made a scapegoat in this case.

He was arrested around 15 days ago on the charge that the auction was unauthorised, and has since come out on bail.

Secretary of the union, Raghavendra, said: “An innocent employee has been arrested wrongfully by the police. The local police have no jurisdiction over railways, and yet they wrongfully arrested a railway employee due to conflict between them and the railway authorities.”

He added: “The auction was approved by the higher authorities, and Panduranga was merely carrying out orders. The police, on the pretext of asking for a statement, called him to the station and arrested him.”

“In fact, all the senior authorities involved have obtained anticipatory bail and are not even in the city,” he said.

The protesters also accused the local police of raiding the offices of the Commercial branch and even the office of the Divisional Railway Manager on Tuesday, even though they do not have authority to do so.

Additional Commissioner (West) Alok Kumar and DCP (West) Labhuram visited the railway station and spoke to the protesters, soon after which the agitation was called off.

Alok Kumar said union members have been assured the case would be handled according to procedure and evidence available.

On the other hand, Government Railway Police officials said 43 vehicles have been auctioned in the past two-three years, for which the railways has no record, and there is more to it than meets the eye.