Indian Railways is in full alert mode. The Ranchi Railway Division has alerted the entire department about the possibility of stopping passenger, express and freight trains for four hours and halting passenger services.
According to information from railway sources, against the new agricultural laws, the farmers’ union can cause four hours of disruption in the movement of passenger, express and freight trains running through Jharkhand or passing through the state for their planned ‘Rail Roko’. The patrolling has been extended due to the proposed rail roko campaign by farmers associations on Thursday.
In such a situation, Ranchi Rail Division officials are trying to negotiate with the farmers’ union and the protesters. However, the Railways have kept their RPF, Special Police Force units and Government Railway Police personnel on full alert. Patrolling on rail tracks has been intensified. On Tuesday, the protesting unions announced that they were planning to disrupt railway traffic at least 20 places in Jharkhand in major routes along the Grand Cord, Main and Loop lines via rail roko.
Meanwhile, a senior officer of the Ranchi division said on condition of anonymity that he has not been officially informed about the movement sites. But intelligence has been reported about the huge gathering of protesters at the Namkum and Tatisilwe railway stations between 12 to 4 pm. The protesters are likely to form a human chain to halt the rail traffic from Ranchi to Muri and Tatanagar to Barkakana. This will halt the movement of major express trains to New Delhi, Howrah and Patna. Train services can be interrupted between the Suisa-Tiruldih and Muri-Chandil rail sections, apart from two Namkum-Tatisilwe stations in Ranchi. Railway officials said that the Hatia-Oraga railway line is likely to remain free from rail roko.
