Sundargarh: A day after the Patna-Bilaspur Weekly Superfast Express crossed Rajgangpur railway station in Sundargarh district without stopping South Eastern Railway suspended Monday station master Santosh Kumar Mishra for alleged dereliction of duty.
Officials of SE Railway stated that Mishra’s wrong signalling and carelessness had led to the incident. The train which has a scheduled stop at Rajgangpur did not halt because of Mishra’s laxity. Passengers who were scheduled to get down and those who were to board the train suffered a lot.
According to information available, the Patna-Bilaspur train was to stop at Rajgangpur at 2.00pm on platform number one. However, the station master committed an error and asked the train to pass through platform No.2. So the train did not stop at the station and chugged past.
Over one hundred passengers waiting at the station to board the train later created a ruckus. Those who were on the train suffered similar fate. They panicked, failing to understand what had happened.
Later, the train was forced to stop at the Garposh station. Those stranded at Rajgangpur were sent to Garposh by the Ispat Express. Similarly, the passengers who were to de-board at Rajgangpur were asked to get down at Sambalpur station from where they were brought back to their destination by the Banaras Express.
It has been alleged that a senior passenger travelling in S4 compartment has since been missing. Efforts are on to locate him.
PNN
