Trinamul's Rally in Delhi Derailed as Railways Deny Rake

The Trinamul Congress's much-publicized intention to hold rallies in Delhi the next week in response to the Centre's holdup in releasing monies owed to Bengal was derailed on Friday when the Eastern Railway refused to let the group a special train to transport 3,000 people to the capital.

The Trinamul leadership had requested the special train through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a PSU that manages ticketing and other services, and had also made the required payments. The special train was scheduled to depart from Howrah station on Saturday morning.

"After taking the deposit, the BJP government blatantly refused to offer a special train. Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of Trinamul, stated in his X handle (formerly Twitter) on Friday night, "This brazen obstruction of WB's right to protest for their legitimate dues is a glaring testament to their FEAR.

According to Trinamul leaders, this was the government's second attempt to stop the party from staging a protest for the release of federal funding, including unpaid MGNREGA payments and additional funds for the Delhi 100-day work program.

To demand the allocation of funding for the 100-day job initiative at the beginning of October, Trinamul originally intended to transport more than 50,000 party members and holders of MGNREGA job cards to Delhi and surround Krishi Bhavan.

However, the Ram Leela Maidan demonstration was not allowed to take place because of a refusal by the Delhi police.

The party had to scale back its plan, so it chose to hire a special train and stage a protest in Jantar Mantar to transport about 3,000 people to Delhi, including party leaders, employees, and some job card holders. The new plan has also encountered difficulties as a result of the railroads' refusal to assign the train, according to Trinamul spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

Even though the railway's refusal to award a rake came as a surprise, party insiders claimed they were optimistic about carrying out the agitation on time because the party's top brass was thinking of an alternative plan to hire Volvo buses to transport the protestors to Delhi.

In order to transport roughly 3,000 passengers to Delhi, we will require 50 Volvo buses. Abhishek will make a final judgment in this regard, according to a senior party official.

According to Trinamul sources, the party took all the proper steps to hire the rake, hence the railways' reluctance to board the train suggested a plot. First, a letter expressing interest in hiring a train with 20 sleeper coaches to Delhi that would depart from Howrah station on September 30 was addressed to the group general manager of IRCTC, Calcutta, on September 23.

According to reports, the party had deposited a total of Rs 61 lakh for the purpose as directed by the IRCTC in a reply mail, including a security deposit of Rs 11 lakh.

This is a plot to sabotage our program, a Trinamul source claimed.

An official request for a rake, according to a railway representative, came through IRCTC. Eastern Railway's principal public relations officer, Kausik Mitra, stated that no political party has officially communicated with the company.

"We got a message from the IRCTC group general manager about a rake. But that is not accessible at the moment," he continued.

Senior IRCTC officials declined to comment on the matter, but sources in the railways claimed that current protocol required the IRCTC to receive any requests for rakes.

"The Railway Board has the last say about the availability of rakes. However, the GGM or IRCTC must receive the application. A down payment (security deposit) is required. The application is then sent to the railroads, according to a source.

"The application was denied due to a genuine scarcity of rakes," another official stated.

"All parties involved adhered to proper protocol. We received word from the railways that the rake was not available. The same was explained to the applicants today. "We'll refund the security deposit," he assured.

Before boarding the special train slated to depart on Saturday morning, Trinamul leaders, sympathizers, and some MGNREGA job card holders had begun to congregate at the Netaji Indoor Stadium where they were hosted by the party earlier in the day.

Some work card holders who arrived in the city claimed they were keen to join the agitation in Delhi since their overdue pay had not been processed.

Abdul Matin, an MGNREGA work card holder from Murshidabad, said that the center had not cleared his salary of Rs 4,000.

"For that reason, I chose to travel to Delhi and take part in the demonstration. "They (the center) ought to understand how badly things are here," stated Matin.

Since November 2021, the Center has halted the delivery of funding under the MGNREGA due to theft of funds under the program. According to the state, the center has not paid a balance of Rs 6,500 crore under the MGNREGA, which includes Rs 3,000 crore in salary.

more articles by Debraj Mitra