Railway Ministry transfers CR ‘boss’ after Badlapur agitation
Image Courtesy : Bajirao
Hours after commuters staged a ‘rail roko’ at Badlapur station following the disruption of rail services yesterday, Railway Ministry shunted out Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Amitabh Ojha.
According to a source in Central Railway, Ojha, DRM of Mumbai division of Central Railway (CR), was transferred following the agitation at Badlapur and has been replaced with Ravindra Goyal. Prior to this, Goyal was DRM of Bilaspur division.
In addition, BJP MP from North East Mumbai Kirit Somaiya had separate meetings with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Akhil Agrawal, the newly-appointed General Manager of CR, and discussed the daily problems being faced by suburban passengers.
“I apprised Railway Minister as well as the GM of Central Railway about the unprofessional approach of DRM of Mumbai Division and demanded his ouster. The DRM has now been shunted out,” Somaiya told PTI.
He said Agrawal presented an action plan to resolve the problems being faced by suburban passengers.
From 6 am on Friday, suburban rail services were disrupted after irate commuters protesting against train delay blocked tracks at Badlapur in neighbouring Thane district. The commuters started protesting after a problem with the level-crossing gate signal caused the Karjat-CST local to get delayed by over 20 minutes.
The enraged commuters barged into the Station Master’s office and demanded immediate action to resolve the issue.
Later, they jumped on tracks at Badlapur, bringing the movement of trains on Central line, which runs between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Khopoli, to a halt. Following the protest, Prabhu directed senior Railway officers to look into the matter.
Due to the ‘Badlapur Agitation’, 34 train were cancelled fully, while 12 were partially affected during morning peak hours.
Maharashtra Minister Ravindra Chavan and Ojha, along with senior Railway officers, visited Badlapur station and tried to bring the situation under control. The crowd dispersed around 11 am, five hours after the services were brought to a halt.
