Migrant Labourers Dump ‘Bad Food’ at Train Station in Bengal
The labourers, onboard a train from Kerala to Bihar, complained that the food served by the Railways was stale.
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In a shocking video that has emerged from West Bengal's Asansol, people can be seen throwing food packets off a moving train as it chugs away from the Asansol station.
The train, the Railways has said, was one carrying migrant labourers from Ernakulam in Kerala to Danapur in Bihar. Asansol station, in West Bengal, was a fifteen-minute stoppage on the way. In the video, the migrant labourers can be heard complaining about the food and chanting "murdabad".
The video is from Monday, 4 May, said the Railways.
Local sources say that the train stopped at Asansol where over 1,000 labourers were given cooked food and water. However, many of them complained that the food was stale and started dumping it at the railway station. In some videos, the migrants also complained that the food had a foul odour.
Speaking to The Quint, Eastern Railways PRO Ekalabya Chakraborty said there were reports of problems with the food from some coaches on the concerned train.
"The food arrangement was made by IRCTC. In some coaches, it was reported that the food was not up to the mark. There is no question of denial. There were problems with the food. Because of the paucity of time, we couldn't rectify it at the Asansol station itself. However, we arranged for food again in the next station", said Chakraborty.
"It was a mishap, yes. But we tried to rectify it", he added.
The local Trinamool Congress has hit out at the Centre-run Indian Railways for the incident.
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