Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A jam-packed Indore-Patna train departed from city railway station on Saturday. Every coach of the train was jam-packed with passengers.
They all were heading to their native places in Bihar and UP for Diwali and Chhath festival. Passengers whose tickets were confirmed and those whose tickets were not confirmed were seen struggling to get a seat in the train. Amjad Khan a native of Bihar who lives in Khajrana, too was travelling in this train. He was headed to Patna to attend his brother-in-law's marriage.
He said that despite having a confirmed ticket he failed to step into the coach owing to heavy rush.
In fact, several others shared his ordeal. Despite having confirmed tickets they had to struggle to get into the train.
He said that traveling in Indore-Patna train was akin to a war. Owing to the crowd it was quite suffocating to travel in the train with family.
State General Secretary of Purvottar Sanskritic Sansthan KK Jha and state president Thakur Jagdish Singh said that during Diwali and Chhath festivals, many natives of Bihar and UP head back to their ancestral place.
Singh said that as there was only one train –Indore-Patna Express— most of the travellers had to endure long waiting list.
He said that in view of huge number of passengers going to Bihar from various areas of the city and Malwa and Nimar, he had been repeatedly requesting the Union Railway Minister through the local MP to launch a new train from the city to Darbhanga and increase the frequency of Indore-Patna train. However, the western Railway and Union railway ministry had ignored their demands.
A few days ago, Western Railway launched a special train from Mhow to Patna. However, it was still inadequate in comparison to the rush. He said that the railways should have launched another special train from Indore to Dharbhanga.
