Displaying exemplary courage & bravery/ A few days back, an undergraduate law student from Ranchi got the railway authorities to run a train for 300km with her as the lone passenger. Ananya Choudhary was travelling by the New Delhi-Ranchi Rajdhani Express when it got stranded at Daltonganj Station for several hours due to the ongoing agitation of Tana Bhagats at Tori Junction, reports HT.
However, even though railway officials arranged for buses to ferry the 930 passengers on board the train from Daltonganj Station to Ranchi, they couldn’t convince Ananya to take the alternative mode of transport. Ananya, who was returning from Varanasi, said she had paid money for the train journey and wouldn’t take the bus.
She kept talking to officials and tweeting them until the officials relented and let her continue her journey in the empty train. The train was diverted via Gomoh and Bokaro, covering a distance of 535 kilometres, instead of the 308 km it would have travelled on its normal route, reports the New Indian Express.
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥ #Covid_19 @pendamic& Ranchi to Delhi is connected by a single train #CovidspRajdhani this is the view at Daltonganj pic.twitter.com/dFYBGK0oEk— Ananya Choudhary (@NormalHumanAna1) September 3, 2020
Apart from Ananya, who was the only passenger, officials deployed personnel of the railway protection force (RPF) and some lady constables to accompany her. However, the Dhanbad senior divisional commercial manager (DCM) AK Pandey, denied that the train was diverted due to the request made by a single lady passenger.
He was quoted saying, “On the basis of pure technical reasons, the Rajdhani express was allowed to run to Ranchi via GAYA-GMO-BKSC. And the running of empty rakes via the diverted route has nothing to do with the demand of any passenger.”
Later, Ananya took to twitter to explain the incident in detail. In the videos posted by her, she revealed how she knew about her rights as a passenger and that everyone should be aware of their rights and all the rules while traveling.
Real Side of the passenger traveling to DDU to Rnc via New Delhi Ranchi covidsp train @I STAND AGAINST WRONG! just wanted a written response by the legally involved administration of the act Of putting the life in danger of 929 passenger @I said I m representing All the Passenger pic.twitter.com/zt7mEaijaG
— Ananya Choudhary (@NormalHumanAna1) September 5, 2020
She further said, “I just wanted the railway authorities to give me a written reply on how did the train end up on the wrong route. People bought tickets for an expensive train like the Rajdhani Express to prevent the coronavirus infection and in return, they were asked to travel by buses without any explanation.”
— Ananya Choudhary (@NormalHumanAna1) September 5, 2020
She concluded by questioning the safety measures that the busses lacked as opposed to the sanitized train coaches the passengers had booked due to the pandemic. She even urged people to stand against any form of wrongdoing.
— Ananya Choudhary (@NormalHumanAna1) September 5, 2020
We should always stand up for our rights especially during this global pandemic. What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.