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Tuesday, Aug 07, 2007
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Tamil Nadu
Special Correspondent
Seven women were allowed to leave after being granted ‘Station Bail’, while men were produced before the Judicial Magistrate and remanded to custody
RESTORATION SOUGHT: Commuters at Pallavaram railway station on Monday stage a protest demanding restoration of a turn back service to Chennai Beach.
TAMBARAM: A total of 36 persons, including seven women, were arrested on charges of disrupting the movement of suburban electric trains at the Pallavaram railway station on Monday morning. The arrested men and women pleaded innocence, stating those who actually squatted on the tracks were let off. Prior to July 1, there were two turn-back Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) services from Pallavaram to Chennai Beach, at 9 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. These two services would originate from Chennai Beach and at Pallavaram, they would be turned back to Beach. Commuters from Pammal, Anakapathur, and Pozhichalur apart from Pallavaram found them convenient. After the revised timings from July 1, the turn-back service leaving Pallavaram at 9 a.m was retained, while the other was cancelled. Though additional EMU services were operated from Tambaram during the morning rush hour, commuters at Pallavaram hardly found a place to travel comfortably, they said. On Monday morning, there was a delay in the arrival of EMU services to Pallavaram from Tambaram. When some of the commuters raised the issue with railway officials at Pallavaram, they were asked to “go to the Tambaram station if they wanted a place to sit.” As the news spread, more commuters gathered near the Station Manager’s office and later, squatted on the suburban line between Pallavaram and Chennai Beach for about 15 minutes. Personnel from the Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force in Tambaram and officials of the Southern Railway came to the spot and dispersed the crowd. Police arrested 36 people and took them in an electric train to the GRP Station, Tambaram. Those arrested said they were asked to stay behind by policemen and railway officials to give a petition to senior officers of Southern Railway, but were shocked when they were informed of their arrest. “More than 200 people squatted on the track and all of them were let off, while we have been made a scapegoat,” charged one of the arrested. Those arrested included government staff. They were arrested under Sections 147 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 353 (preventing a public servant from discharging his duty) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 145 B (causing inconvenience to passengers) and 174 A,B, (stopping trains) of the Railway Act. While the seven women were allowed to leave after being granted ‘Station Bail’, the men were produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Tambaram, in the evening who remanded them to judicial custody. Railway clarification
Meanwhile, in a release the Southern Railway administration clarified that there had been no reduction in service to passengers at Pallavaram. It said that prior to July 1, two suburban services were operated from Pallavaram to Chennai Beach, at 9 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. In response to the demand for additional service on the Tambaram-Chengalpattu section by commuters, one train was extended to Chengalpattu, while the second continued to be turned back from Pallavaram at 9.03 a.m. Moreover, in place of the 9.30 a.m. service bound for Chennai Beach, a through train from Chengalpattu to Chennai Beach arrived at Pallavaram at 9.28 a.m. The administration said the hold-up of suburban service during rush hour was not warranted as it caused hardship and inconvenience to other commuters. It appealed to commuters to assist it in providing better service to suburban commuters and to desist from any act which would cause disruption to train services.
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