At Khardah railway station on Monday. (Source: Express photo) At Khardah railway station on Monday. (Source: Express photo)

Over 20 pairs of suburban trains on Eastern Railway’s Sealdah main division were cancelled on Monday after around 150 women blocked Khardah station to protest against men being allowed to board the Matribhumi Ladies Special train. Seven persons were arrested, police said.

The Matribhumi Ladies Special was originally introduced to help women travel during peak office hours. But according to Railway officials, the train could manage to run only at 30 per cent of its capacity, and that too, during peak hours.

Following this, Railways had decided to convert four coaches of the train to general compartments.

On Monday, women passengers protesting against the decision launched an agitation from 9 am. An Eastern Railway press release said: “About 150 women passengers obstructed train movement at Khardah station protesting the opening of a few coaches of Matribhumi Ladies Special trains for male passengers. They detained 31602 Dn Ranaghat-Sealdah Matribhumi local at Khardah station from 9.02 am.”

The blockade was removed after senior Railway officials assured them of reviewing the decision, it added. This, however, did not end the matter as around 10 am, the male passengers sat on the tracks “demanding their share of coaches in Matribhumi Ladies Special”. This led to both groups of men and women indulging in verbal altercation.

Soon, the station turned into a war zone with both groups exchanging brickbats.

When the GRP and local police reached the spot, the protesters allegedly started pelting stones at them in which several persons were injured, including at least six GRP and police personnel. The police had to resort to teargas shelling and lathicharge to disperse the protesters. More police personnel were called in.

The men continued their demonstration, which was finally removed at 12.40 pm, Eastern Railway CPRO R N Mahapatra said.

Commissioner of Police (Barrackpore Police Commissionerate) Niraj Kumar Singh, who rushed to the station, said: “Contingents of RAF and combat force have been posted in the area as a precautionary measure… Seven arrests have been made. The injured police personnel have been hospitalised.”

Stating that the inclusion of three general compartments to Matribhumi Ladies Special was done on “experimental basis”, Mahapatra said the matter will be reviewed. “This is not for the first time that we have done this (adding general coaches to Matribhumi). Earlier also, it was done after it was found that there was only 30 per cent occupancy in most Matribhumi locals even in peak hours,” Mahapatra said.

The release said: “A section of lady passengers had approached the Railway administration for permitting male passengers in a few coaches of the train for the convenience of their accompanying male relatives to board the same train.”

The protests led to 20 pairs of local and several other trains getting stranded at different stations for hours.

Following this, special passenger trains were run between Sealdah and Sodepur to clear stranded passengers.

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