E-Paper
'Moitree Express' stopped by protesters
The train is detain for few minutes when some people squatted on the tracks demanding rehabilitation of Bangla refugees.
The 'Moitree Express' which left here this morning on its maiden run to Dhaka was detained for few minutes in Nadia district when a group of people squatted on the tracks demanding rehabilitation of Bangladesh refugees.
"The train was detained near Aranghata in the Ranaghat- Gede section between 8.35 am to 8.48 am when some people squatted on the tracks," Eastern Railway (ER) sources said.
Security forces accompanying the train got down when it stopped, but did not have to use force against the squatters who lifted the blockade on their own, the sources said.
The train resumed upward journey after the blockade was lifted.
While the ER sources had earlier said that the squatters belonged to the 'Amra Bangalee,' police said they were activists of the Nikhil Banga Nagarik Sangha who had squatted on the tracks to demand rehabilitation of Bangladeshi refugees in India.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee flagged off the train from the newly-constructed Kolkata terminus.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, I&B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi Railway Standing Committee chairman Basudeb Acharia, CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri, Bangladesh High Commissioner in India Liakat Ali Chowdhury and a host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion.