Passengers decry RPF ‘dadagiri’; demand apology

OST Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Nov 9:

About 40 railway passengers demanded refund of their railway tickets and an apology from the Railways police personnel, who allegedly assaulted them at the Bhubaneswar Railways Station here on Saturday morning. They also sought the media’s intervention in the matter.

The passengers, mostly migrant labourers from Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Cuttack districts,work as welders, plumbers and in hotels and medicine companies in Bangalore.

According to SK Meraj, a welder from Kendrapada, he, along with 39 others, had booked tickets from Bhubaneswar to Bangalore on the Prashanti Express for Saturday morning. “But when we entered the general compartment, the TTI, along with Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials inside the train, opposed our entry saying the compartment was reserved and assaulted us,” he said.

“When we produced our tickets, the officials ignored it and misbehaved with us and later resorted to lathi charge,” said Meraj. Three of the passengers were seriously injured. In the meantime, the train left the station at its scheduled time.

After the intervention of the Station Master, RPF senior officials and media persons, Railway officials refunded their ticket money.