Lucknow: A wagon of a goods train from Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh took over three years to reach its destination in Uttar Pradesh, highlighting the negligence of the Indian Railways.

Wagon 107462 was booked in November 2014 by a company called Indian Potash Limited to send a parcel containing compost to a shop in UP’s Basti district, 1,400 kilometres away. The wagon arrived at its destination after three-and-a-half years when the compost worth Rs 10 lakh had decayed.

According to information, the owner of the product wrote to the railways after the parcel did not reach its destination. However, the public transporter could not track the wagon, which passed unnoticed through several stations year after year.

The decayed compost is now lying unattended at the Basti railway station as owner Ramchandra Gupta has refused to take it.

Speaking to News18, Manoj Kumar Gupta of M/S Ramchandra Gupta, said: “This wagon was missing for the past three-and-a-half years and even after several reminders, the railways could not track it. The compost in the parcel has decayed. The cost of the goods is Rs 10 lakh and it will be recovered from the railways on an assessment basis.”

Chief public relation officer (North Eastern Railway) Sanjay Yadav said, “If any wagon is found sick or unsafe, it is cut from the train and sent to the yard. This wagon was found parked at a station under Northern Railway and was tracked when North Eastern Railways started looking for it. Till now, no consignee has come to claim the wagon and we are in the process of identifying the consignee. Once identified, the contents will be handed over to him.”