Three trains burn at Ulhasnagar

Thousands of Dalits ransack station, gut the Deccan Queen and assault railway staff

Between 3,000 to 5,000 Dalit protestors set fire to three trains at the Ulhasnagar railway station on Thursday to protest against the alleged desecration of Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue at Kanpur on Tuesday.

After setting fire to eight bogies of the Deccan Queen travelling from Pune to Mumbai in the early afternoon, protesters turned their ire on two local trains - both Mumbai-Ambernath locals. Passengers in all three trains were asked to get down from their bogies, after which protestors started destroying seats, gates and windows.

A few miscreants also gutted the engine after pouring kerosene in the bogies and then setting them on fire. Some vandals ransacked the Ulhasnagar station, including the ticket-booking office, announcer’s office, food stalls, indicators, lights and technical equipment at the railway office.

Most protestors were residents of slums that run along the Ulhasnagar station and areas such as Forwar Lane, Chopra Court and Khemani. GRP, RPF and SRPF officials restrained many agitators by firing 16 rounds in the air at around 2:30pm and throwing tear gas to disperse the mob.

“People who set fire to the trains were young, between the ages of 15 to 25 years old,” said Avinash Salunke, a DQ passenger. The Indian Railways (IR) has yet to assess the damage done to Ulhasnagar station. “Train services resumed at around 5:30pm,” said AK Singh, public relations officer with the Central Railway (CR). The Deccan Express leaving CST at 7.10am on Friday for Pune along with the Deccan Queen leaving Pune and arriving at CST at 10:30am on Friday have been cancelled.

An IR spokesperson said that an emergency meeting has been convened to discuss the situation. CR’s Divisional Railway Manager RS Virdi, who visited the damaged DQ, said, “It is unfortunate that one of the best-known trains have been damaged in such a way.” Virdi assured that the historic train would restart services by Friday morning. “We have spare coaches in the workshop, which would be used to ensure that the train is back on the tracks soon,” he said.

Long-distance and suburban train services on the CR were disrupted between Kalyan-Ambarnath from 10.23am until late evening. Agitators placed concrete sleepers on tracks between Ulhasnagar and Ambarnath stations and disrupted train services. However, services between CST and Kalyan/Kasara/Panvel/Andheri along with shuttle services between Ambarnath and Karjat were running about 30 minutes late.