Police interacting with passengers at Bhubaneswar station | Express
Police interacting with passengers at Bhubaneswar station | Express

Army aspirants create ruckus at railway station

BHUBANESWAR: Hundreds of candidates seeking entry into Territorial Army (TA) ran amok when they attempted to forcibly enter Purushottam Express which was scheduled to depart at 11.05 pm from Bhubaneswar railway station. The train runs daily between Puri and New Delhi.

Though the Government Railway Police (GRP) had launched patrolling and directed the applicants hailing from Uttar Pradesh to purchase tickets of different trains so that other passengers do not face any inconvenience, about 2,000 of them attempted to unlawfully board the trains to return to their State. The outcome was lawlessness and utter chaos.

To tackle the situation, the GRP had to resort to mild baton charge to disperse the job aspirants attempting to board the train without tickets. Situation turned for worse when applicants started entering every compartment of the train and even luggage van through doors facing the railway tracks. As a result, passengers having valid tickets were unable to board the train.
Thousands of applicants had converged in the State Capital on October 13 for the recruitment rally at 120 Infantry Battalion here. While natives of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar returned on Monday, the residents of Uttar Pradesh waited for their turn.

Many job aspirants even pulled chain multiple times to force the train to stop. Some of them even pelted stones prompting GRP to go after them. The train finally left the station after 12.20 am, more than an hour late.

“About 40 senior citizens from various States had booked tickets in Purushottam Express. However, they were unable to board the train due to the unruly job aspirants,” a GRP officer said. An elderly man reportedly even slipped from one of the compartments but a GRP officer present at the spot rescued him.
With candidates from Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh set to appear for the examination in coming week, additional platoons of GRP and Railway Protection Force have been deployed at the station here to check travellers without valid tickets.

Meanwhile, Twin City Commissioner of Police Sudhanshu Sarangi discussed the matter with TA officials and urged them not to conduct recruitment rally in the City in the future. 

“The number of applicants for TA recruitment rally has increased significantly in recent years. We have also requested State Government to urge the Centre not to conduct the recruitment rally inside the City and organise it in rural areas,” Sarangi said. Police said, they are facing difficulties in maintaining law and order situation as the drive is being conducted inside the City. Meanwhile, three TA applicants have been arrested for passing lewd comments at women in IG Park here while GRP fined five more for travelling without tickets on a train from Anand Vihar Terminal to Puri. 

A Bhubaneswar-based family, including two women, lodged a complaint with Indian Railways toll free number that many passengers boarded the train from Uttar Pradesh without tickets and had occupied their reserved seats. Basing on the complaint, about 18 applicants who visited the Capital to appear for the recruitment drive were detained by the GRP. However, the family members did not lodge a formal complaint following which all were let off after a warning.

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