Passengers stranded at Dimapur railway station

Our Reporter
Dimapur, March 24 (EMN): Around 30 passengers, headed to different places, have been stranded at the Dimapur railway station since Sunday without any food or water after directives to stop all passenger trains in the country was announced on March 22.

The officer-in-charge (OC) of GRPS Dimapur, Z Lotha, told Eastern Mirror that most of the passengers were supposed to go to Imphal but since there were no means of transportation, they have been stranded since Sunday.

“Most of them are from Bihar and residents of Imphal; they had gone to attend a wedding in Bihar and was on their way back home,” said Lotha.

Lotha shared that ‘on humanitarian ground’, the security personnel at the station have been providing them with food and water while also trying to arrange a kitchen at a small hotel close to the station.

“We have also been screening passengers at the station,” informed Lotha.

“They have financial problem and there are also women and small children amongst them; their lives are also at risk,” shared Lotha.

Another stranded passenger and her aged mother had nowhere to go or anyone to turn to since they were on their way to Sivasagar in Assam after visiting the Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research for treatment.

The police officer informed that Awadh Express was the last train that departed the station on Tuesday at 9 am.

Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur, Anoop Khinchi informed that he had visited the passengers on Tuesday morning.

According to him, the stranded passengers have been provided shelter at the Gurudwara in Marwari Patti.  Owing to the lockdown, he said, they can leave only when the railways resume service.