The RRI fire: affecting the common man

Rampukar Yadav was facing the ordeal of his life. The Mumbaikar Yadav wanted to take his ailing wife to their hometown in Darbhanga, Bihar. She had been operated upon on June 17. But Yadav couldn’t, as his train got cancelled after a fire destroyed the RRI at Itarsi’s railway station. He finally left Mumbai on July 28, more than a month later.

Lakhs of passengers who had a similar story to tell. Of the scheduled 5,016 trains that would have otherwise passed through Itarsi during the 35-day-period when the new RRI panel was being set up, 2,404 were cancelled, 259 diverted, and 17 trains were terminated before their original destination. Indian Railways lost over ₹1,200 crore.

“Business was affected for two months as local ticket sales were just not happening,” says Kapil Gour, a JTBS operator and owner of travel agency Mahalakshmi Travels at Itarsi. The JTBS is an outsourcing scheme from Railways in which entrepreneurs set up ticket counters close to railway stations. Over 12.75 lakh tickets worth over ₹82.5 crore were cancelled in the West Central Railway zone. Replying to a BusinessLine query, Rajendra Kumar Agrawal, DGM of the neighbouring zone of South East Central Railway (SECR), said:“A total of 1,16,900 tickets, worth ₹5.7 crore were cancelled at UTS (unreserved ticketing system) counters and advance reservation counters over SECR jurisdiction.”

SECR cancelled 164 express and 155 passenger trains, diverted 50 and short-terminated nine trains.

Over one-third of Itarsi’s local economy is dependent on the Indian Railways. About 200 labourers working in the station’s goods shed lost their livelihood for two months. Vegetable supplies to Itarsi also dwindled.

Vendors at the station were the worst hit. Sanjay Singh, who runs a puri stall on Platform 1 of Itarsi Junction made only about ₹8,000 per day during the period, instead of the usual ₹18,000.  Similarly, book-stall vendor Rajendra Kumar Sharma’s business shrank 25 per cent. Neelam Hotel – located just outside the station - usually does brisk business. But it got only 50 per cent of its daily sales during the torrid period.  Auto rickshaw driver Mohammed Karim, who solicits business outside Itarsi station had to change his location.

The iconic Railway Mail Service (RMS) faced a lot of issues during those six weeks of traffic disruption. About 2,000 bags are handled each day using 14 mail trains that pass through Itarsi. After the fire, many posts and parcels were routed via Nagpur.

“It was a harrowing experience that all of us at Itarsi would like to forget and move on,” says Gour.

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