Man denied to board Shatabdi Express; asks if 'British Raj' is back?

Lucknow: Government Railway Police has been alleged to have not allowed an 82-year-old man, draped in ‘unstitched cloth’ and ‘dhoti’, to board New Delhi bound Shatabdi Express at Etawah in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday morning despite having a confirmed ticket, Hindustan Times reported.

The passenger Ram Awadh Das made a written complaint to the North Central Railway in this regard. He, however, did not mention that he was denied entry because of his attire.

“I am shocked. It seems as if we are still living in the British era. Though I had the ticket, still the GRP personnel and the coach attendant denied me entry into the train as I was dressed differently. I am aghast and pained at their behaviour,” Hindustan Times quoted Ram Awadh Das, a seer who hails from Barabanki and was travelling to Ghaziabad.

Das’s insistence of carrying a confirmed ticket was of no avail. “They said ‘Baba tum galat train mein chadh gaye ho (you have stepped into a wrong train). Your train is in Kanpur and will reach Etawah in next couple of hours’,” he added.

Das had a reservation from Etawah to Ghaziabad, where he was going to see his followers. He blamed the onboard GRP personnel and coach attendant for not letting him board the train.

“By the time I reached another coach, the train left,” states the seer’s complaint filed at Etawah station.

Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of NCR Ajit Kumar Singh said as per railway’s enquiry, Das had wrongly boarded the power car and was asked to board the passenger coach. The train had just two-minute stoppage at Etawah station, it left by the time he reached another coach.

Singh did acknowledge that the staff must be counselled at the station to be sensitive towards passengers. They should have guided Seer to the right coach.