Ranchi: The Indian Railway suffered a loss of more than s 100 crore due to three days agitation of Tana Bhagat’s on railway tracks.
Rajdhani express was on Thursday delayed for nine hours and later it’s route was diverted due to Tana Bhagat’s agitation ion railway track. Tana Bhagats call off their agitation on early Saturday.
They were staging a dharna at the railway tracks at Tori Junction of Latehar district. The agitation was ended after talks with local legislator Baidyanath Ram. A delegation of the Tana Bhagat on Saturday met the Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
On Wednesday evening the Tana Bhagats had commenced their agitation on the railway tracks with nearly 300 members of the community including male and female staging the agitation. On Thursday evening a team of the district administration including DC and SP along with Latehar MLA had reached on the spot and had tried to convince the agitators but they had not relented.
Initially, Tana Bhagats were not ready to talk to the legislators and district administration officials and they were demanding the presence of Chief Minister Hemant Soren. On Friday, the legislator conveyed that the Chief Minister would meet them in Ranchi. After getting an assurance to meet Chief Minister, Tana Bhagats called off their agitation.
On the other hand, the agitation of the Tana Bhagats has caused losses estimated to be worth around Rs 100 crore to the railways.
The railway officials claim that the CIC section through which the Barkakana-Barwadih line runs on an average in an hour two rakes of goods train carrying coal passes and the railway gets Rs 1 crore of revenue from one rake. They claimed that every day nearly 45-55 rakes of the goods train to pass through the line carrying coal from the coal mines located in Latehar, Chatra, Ranchi and Ramgarh districts.
The Tana Bhagats had been demanding amendment in the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and rights over the jungle. Tana Bhagats are followers of Mahatma Gandhi and they wear Gandhi cap.