Railway staff strike in Bengaluru leaves thousands stranded for 2 hrs

BENGALURU: Trains rolling into and out of the Bengaluru City station were stopped in their tracks when railway employees went on a flash strike and switched off operation and control systems. Traffic at all the 188 stations in the Bengaluru railway division was affected. It was perhaps the first strike by railway employees in the city in decades. At least 8,000 passengers were stranded at the City station as the strike brought 35 incoming and outgoing trains to a halt. Among those affected was Praveen Bhawsar, who was travelling by the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express. "Travelling with my 11-month-old baby and 5-year-old son is never easy. I have to drop my mother-in-law, wife and kids at Bhopal and then go to my hometown in Madhya Pradesh. I'm worried that I'll miss the connecting train," he told TOI. There was no movement of trains at the City station between 6.20pm and 8.15pm. Train movement resumed around 8.30pm - after the railway ministry intervened. All stations in Bengaluru, including Yeshwantpur, Cantonment, Whitefield, Kengeri and KR Puram, were affected. The strike, which followed a protest at the City station at 5pm in solidarity with an arrested employee, got support from all staff under the division. Ticket counters were closed. The protest followed the arrest of Panduranga AR, chief commercial supervisor at the City station, for allegedly auctioning stolen vehicles. Government Railway Police (GRP) had arrested Panduranga on Sunday for allegedly auctioning vehicles abandoned at the parking lot. On Tuesday afternoon, about 200 Group C and D employees assembled on platform 1 in response to a call by the South Western Railway Mazdoor Union. When union leaders began addressing their colleagues, tempers rose. Around 6pm, the unreserved ticket counters were closed. The protesters moved to the control room in the division railway manager's office and switched off all operation and control stations. The first train to come to a grinding halt was the Bengaluru-Kacheguda Passenger scheduled to leave at 6.20pm. With signals going blank, all incoming and outgoing trains stopped where they were; some gingerly crawled to the nearest station. At the City station, dozens of trains did not leave even as passengers continued to troop in. Soon, the protesters moved to platforms 7 and 8. Top GRP officials rushed and tried to reason it out with the agitators. They urged the employees to call off the strike, saying their arrested colleague's bail proceedings would conclude on Wednesday. But they were in no mood to listen. Top railway ministry officials spoke to union leaders on the phone. The situation began easing around 8pm when the public address system came back to life. A few minutes later, the control room started functioning, and the first train moved out. No South Western Railway official was available for comment. A union office-bearer said an "innocent" railway employee was arrested by local police, who have no authority over them. -TOI