People from all walks of life on Thursday staged demonstrations by blocking railway tracks at the Nandangachhi railway station at Charghat upazila in Rajshahi, demanding a scheduled stop for intercity trains at the station.
Several hundred of them led by Rajshahi district BNP convener Abu Sayed Chad blocked the tracks for three hours from 10:00am to 1:00pm to press home their demand.
During the blockade, the protesters also stopped two trains 鈥� one mail train from Rajshahi to Ishwardi and the intercity Barendra Express train bound for Rajshahi.
In both cases, trains were stopped for 10 to 15 minutes before being allowed to leave the station.
Mozammel Haque, a local resident who participated in the blockade, said that people from three upazilas鈥揅harghat, Bagha, and Puthia鈥揾ad long been facing immense difficulties to travel from Rajshahi to Dhaka.
Nazmul Haque, assistant secretary of the Rajshahi district unit of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, said that people in the surrounding areas had long been demanding a scheduled stop for intercity trains at the station.
鈥楾he authorities are yet to take any tangible action to meet our demand,鈥� he said.
Abu Sayed Chad warned that they would not allow any train to use the railway tracks at the Nandangachi railway station if their demand was not met soon.
鈥業f trains do not stop there, the railway authorities will be responsible for the consequences of any movement that follows,鈥� he added.
Iqbal Hossain, station master of the Sardah railway station, said that due to the blockade, the Barendra Express was delayed for about an hour while the Kapotaksha Express and a mail train were delayed by 15 minutes.
鈥楾rain operations have returned to normal at around 1:00pm and the railway authorities have assured us that a decision will be made after a meeting with the protesters鈥� representatives,鈥� he added.
According to the railway authorities, the Nandangachhi railway station was established in the Barkatpur area under Nimpura union in 1929.
The government, however, suspended the operations of the century-old station in 2015.
Before closure, twelve people used to work at the station, including a station master, ticketmaster, porter, pointsman, and gateman. Currently, only one porter is employed while two local trains stop at the station.
