Kolkata: Bihar family shows how to behave in Metro station

KOLKATA: Not everybody tries to shove his arm through the closing doors of a Metro coach when he is unable to get in, even under extreme circumstances.
While Kolkata residents may be notorious for such behaviour, a 15-member group from Muzaffarpur in Bihar showed how to behave responsibly in the city’s lifeline even after a 12-year-old child got into a crowded train alone at the Kalighat station, while others were unable to board on Tuesday morning.The child’s father, Ram Naresh Shaw, didn’t try to push his arm through the closing doors to try and open them. Immediately after the train left, the group walked up to the station superintendent and informed him about the incident.
“We visited the Kalighat temple in the morning and planned to return to Esplanade from there. When we reached Kalighat Metro station around 10.30am, it was crowded. We decided to split and enter the train through two doors. One group managed to enter the coach but came out, as the other group couldn’t board the train. Sonu was part of the second group that hadn’t managed to board. Somehow, he got in and stayed inside as the doors closed. We knew immediately that he was missing but didn’t try to stop the train,” his uncle Vicky Kumar Barman said.
On hearing about the incident, the station superintendent informed the Central Control and an alert was flashed to all stations to keep a lookout for a lone child matching the boy’s description. The boy apparently could not get off the train till the crowd thinned a bit. He got his first opportunity at the Sovabazar Sutanuti station and stepped out on the platform. An RPF personnel spotted him immediately and took him to the station superintendent’s chamber around 11am.
“At the superintendent’s chamber, the child narrated how he had been separated from his parents and others in the group at Kalighat station. He also gave a mobile number. On calling the number, we realised that we had reached Muzaffarpur in Bihar. We explained the situation and the person on the other end said that he would speak to members of the group in Kolkata. A while later, the boy’s father informed us that his uncle would fetch him from Sovabazar,” a Metro Railway official said.
According to Barman, who now lives in Asansol, he reached Sovabazar station around 1pm and took charge of the boy after proper verification. He said that this may not have been possible had the boy gone missing elsewhere. “He wouldn’t have been traced so easily. After all, he is a child and can’t provide all details. We thank the Metro for this act,” he said.
Metro Railway CPRO Indrani Banerjee said that such behaviour is sought from commuters and there is a proper security and safety system in place. “We can only urge people to behave responsibly. A few minutes wait is all that is required to prevent untoward incidents. People should never try to push any part of their bodies in between the door leaves to open them,” she said.