Passengers hold up train to protest bad food, hygiene

BHOPAL: Angry passengers forced an unscheduled halt of 12270 Chennai-Duronto for more than hour at Bhopal railway station on Wednesday evening, protesting against poor food quality and lack of hygiene in coaches. Passengers also complained of being threatened by pantry staff.
There are no commissioned halts of the train between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Chennai, only operational stops at Jhansi and Itarsi. The train departed 16 hours late from Nizamuddin on Wednesday morning.Passengers complained to pantry staff at Jhansi station about bad food being served. But no complaint was received and this forced passengers to pull the chain at Bhopal station. More than 100 passengers got down into the tracks, created ruckus and shouted slogans.
One of the passengers, Sunil Kumar Sangwan, said, “When I complained to pantry staff, he started noting down names and numbers and threatened us. They said once the train enters south India, we would be taught a lesson.”
Another passenger, Pallavi Dhondiyal, said even though it was a Duronto train, it did not feel like one. “People were falling ill after having coffee served by pantry. There wasn’t even a doctor on the train. Also, no one paid heed to our complaints.” Alok Kumar, who travelled a fortnight ago, said complaints of bad food and unhygienic conditions were lodged by passengers earlier too, but in vain.
Bhopal station manager Pradeep Singh said, “The train was on mainline. Later, it was pulled back to the station to avoid a mishap. We talked to passengers and pacified them. Also, they were assured that good quality food would be served to them in Itarsi. We have also taken down their complaint against IRCTC catering staff.”
Holiday in government schools:
School education department has declared holiday in all government schools till January 4. This has been done due to the cold wave in the state. Orders for the same were issued by commissioner public instructions (CPI) DD Agarwal to all the district collectors on Wednesday.
It has also been mentioned in the order that private school management can take their own decision regarding the duration of their holidays.