Railway wagon takes over 3 years to reach Basti from Vizag
After running from pillar to post for months, I lost hope and gave up the search to concentrate on my business
MANOJ KUMAR GUPTA, Up-based trader
LUCKNOW: In a dubious record set by the Indian Railways, they booked a consignment on November 10, 2014 ,but delivered it only on July 25, 2018 -- a full three years and eight months later.
For the record, the fertiliserloaded wagon booked in Visakhapatnam for delivery in Basti covered the distance of around 1,300 kilometres in almost four years, said Uttar Pradesh-based trader Manoj Kumar Gupta, who had lost all hope of getting the compost worth ₹10 lakh.
“While I had booked 21 wagons of compost, only 20 reached my destination in time. However, one of the wagons presumably got lost, forcing me to approach the railways for compensation,” said Gupta, who was handed over his consignment of 1,236 sacks of compost three days back, on Wednesday.
“After running from pillar to post for months, I lost hope and gave up the search to concentrate on my business,” said Gupta.
The wagon bearing number ‘107462’ was booked by a company Indian Potash Limited (IPL), confirmed officials of North Eastern Railways (NER).
“The goods were fortunately found to be safe and has been handed over to the consignee. An enquiry has been ordered into the delay,” said Sanjay Yadav, chief public relation officer (CPRO), NER, the railway zone that owns the wagon.
“The wagon was lost in transit. When the matter came to light recently, we launched an exercise to trace it,” said Yadav, while also blaming Manoj Kumar Gupta for the inordinate delay.
“The consignee never tried to track the goods and hence it remained missing for so many months,” said Sanjay Yadav while insisting that the wagon was lying unattended in a yard at Vishakhapatnam itself.
“Possibly, the wagon was detached from the goods train as it may have been declared sick (unfit to ferry). But due to the apathy of officials, the wagon was left unreported,” said Sanjay Yadav. RANCHI: A man from the Birhor tribe is suspected to have died of poor nutrition and illness as his family was allegedly denied a ration card as they did not have Aadhaar registration, food rights activists said.
The Birhor family belongs to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district, and the incident came to light after the death of Rajendra Birhor, 39, a resident of Chainpur under Mandu block on July 24.
Food activists claimed he succumbed to poor nutrition and illness as he did not receive subsidised food from the PDS shops.
State food and public distribution minister Saryu Rai has ordered a probe. “I have sought a report from the Ramgarh deputy commissioner about the death of Rajendra Birhor of Mandu. Whether he died of starvation or illness, action will be taken against the responsible persons,” Rai said. Ramgarh sub-divisional officer (SDO) Anant Kumar said, “We found that the family did not have Aadhar and ration card.”
A team of Right to Food Campaign (RTC) visited the village and met the family members on Thursday. An RTC member Ankita Agarwal said that Rajendra Birhor had stopped working about a year ago due to weakness.