Suvendu writes to Ashwini Vaishnaw accusing Mamata of misusing railway services

Kolkata, May 6 (IANS) The leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, has written to Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misusing railway services during her recent trip to Malda and Murshidabad for attending an administrative review meeting and a political rally.

Although the letter is dated May 4, Adhikari shared it in the public domain on Saturday.

In the letter, Adhikari has alleged that the Chief Minister, while travelling on May 3 in Saraighat Express from Howrah, forced extended stoppages of the train at three stations to serve her own political agenda.

"In spite of being fully aware of the critical connectivity provided by this train to the Northeast, she forced an extended stoppage of the train at Bardhaman Junction by five minutes to accommodate her chit-chat with Kokhan Das, a party functionary," Adhikari's letter to the Railways Minister read.

Adhikari added that the scene was repeated at Bolpur station to accommodate Bikash Roy Chowdhury and Chandranath Sinha.

"At Malda, the train was constrained to stop for 31 minutes against the scheduled stoppage time of 15 minutes," Adhikari said.

The leader of the opposition also requested the Railways Minister to order an inquiry into the matter and take action against the offenders as well as the errant railway personnel because of the disruption of the punctual movement of the train.

"There is a tendency among certain insensitive political VIPs to use their journey by train to extend their political agenda, resulting in disruption of services and causing avoidable harassment for the passengers. Crucially, some of these trains are critical in providing connectivity to forward defence locations and otherwise inaccessible areas in the Northeast," Adhikari said.