The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Trains detained at several stations

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Thursday, Oct 25, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Trains detained at several stations

Special Correspondent

RPF files 28 cases against leaders, others for holding up AP Express

- PHOTO: P. V. SIVAKUMAR

Up in arms: Opposition parties staging a ‘rail-roko’ in front of New Delhi-bound AP Express at Secunderabad Railway Station on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: The ‘rail roko’ programme backed by all non-Congress parties demanding a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs. 1,000 a quintal for paddy led to detention of several important trains across the State on Wednesday.

In a rare move, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) booked 28 leaders of various parties and farmers’ organisations on the specific charge of detaining the New Delhi-bound AP Express at Secunderabad. They included five MLAs -- G. Sayanna (TDP) and T. Padma Rao, Naini Narasimha Reddy, E. Ravinder Reddy and T. Harish Rao (all TRS). Bharatiya Janata Party State general secretary K. Laxman, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretariat member Y. Venkateswara Rao and former CPI legislator K. Ramakrishna were also among them.

An RPF official said this was the first time that provisions of the RPF Act as amended in 2003 to arrest persons for holding up trains was invoked at Secunderabad railway station. The leaders against whom cases were booked would face prosecution. He also said the agitators were till now routinely arrested on preventive grounds under provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code and let off subsequently. This time, however, the RPF headquarters had asked its units to make them face trial in court. The leaders were set free but they would be summoned later for recording statements, he added. Hundreds of supporters of various opposition parties landed on the tracks at Secunderabad railway station to hold up the AP Express for 50 minutes from 6.40 a.m.

Heated exchanges

The demonstrators mounted atop the engine holding banners and flags as the passengers entered into heated exchanges with them. The passengers also pleaded with railway authorities and the police to clear the way for the train. The track was finally cleared at 7.40 a.m.

Reports from districts said a dozen trains were held up for periods ranging from five to 30 minutes in Vijayawada railway division. They included Pinakini, Kerala, Coromandel, Jammu Tawi and Yashwantpur expresses.

The inter-city Ratnachal Express was also stopped near Visakhapatnam. Trains bound for Hyderabad and Vijayawada were detained at Khammam for more than an hour. The Nandigram express was stopped for an hour at Adilabad. The Rajadhani and Satavahana expresses were delayed by 20 minutes at Kazipet in Warangal. The Guntur bound fast passenger was also held up for the same period at Kurnool.

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