Maoists blow up railway track near Rourkela, train movement affected

Train movement on Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai route was severely affected after Maoists blew up railway track at Binuan village between Rourkela and Manoharpur railway station late Thursday night.

Maoist posters and banners were also put up at the blast site.

As per reports, more than 20 trains were held at different stations due to the violence by the ultras.

Current status of some of the trains on that route is:

Yognagari Rishikesh-Puri Utkal Express has been halted at Manoharpur.

Porbandar-Shalimar Express is at Manoharpur.

Jagdalpur-Howrah Express is at Manoharpur.

Shalimar-LTT Express is at Goilkera Station.

Pune-Howrah Express is at Rourkela station.

Howrah-CST Express is at Chakradharpur.

Howrah-Pune Express is at Chakradharpur.

Following the blast, personnel of CRPF and RPF reached the spot and launched a search operation on the track.

As per the Railway officials, the trains will have to wait for some more time. They will be allowed to ply on the route after the track repair works are completed and the RPF gives them a green signal.

It is pertinent to mention here that various outlawed Maoist insurgent groups have called for a nationwide shutdown strike (Bharat bandh) on December 22 to denounce their recent encounters with security personnel.

Maoists on Wednesday had set on fire multiple vehicles and blocked the National Highway in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma hours after their encounter with security forces in the nearby forest.

A passenger bus, two trailers and a pickup vehicle were set on fire by Maoists, police officials said. There was no loss of life in this arson.

Maoist posters have been pasted on the overbridge wall near Sundargarh private bus stand. The poster has been put up in the name of Prem Kumar Yadav of the PLFI Central Committee. Police have reached the spot and are investigating.

Notably, Sundargarh was excluded from the Maoist-affected district as there was no Maoist activity for five years. Earlier, PLFI was active in the Jharkhand border area of Sundargarh. In 2014, six innocent people were brutally killed by the Maoists suspecting them as police informers and then an encounter broke out with the police. Six Maoists, including the PLFI chief were killed in the encounter. Since then, there has been no Maoist movement in the district. After the poster today, they have once again tried to make their presence felt.