1 dead as Maoists blow up rly track with IED in Jharkhand
Jamshedpur, Aug. 4 -- A railway employee was killed and another seriously injured after an IED planted by Maoists exploded on a track in the Bimalgarh section of the Chakradharpur division under South Eastern Railway (SER) on Sunday, officials said.
According to officials, the Maoists also blew up part of the railway track in the Karamada section in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, bringing train movement to a standstill in several sections under the division.
The CPI (Maoist) extremists triggered IEDs across locations in connection with a bandh called by them in five states, including Jharkhand, against a series of anti-Naxal operations in recent times, officials said.
"58-year-old track gangman, Etwa Oram, has died, while fellow employee Budhram Munda got injured in a Maoist IED blast on the railway track in the Bimalgarh section on the Jharkhand-Odisha border early Sunday morning. The Maoists have also blown up a part of the rail track in the Karamada-Rangra railway siding. No coaching train plies on this track, but a goods train of the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) was suspended immediately after the blast," Aditya Kumar Choudhary, senior divisional commercial manager (Sr DCM), Chakradharpur division of SER, told HT on Sunday.
According to the available information, Etwa Oram and Budhram Munda were on track patrolling duty when they were hit by the blast from an IED planted under the track by Maoist extremists.
"Both were rushed to Bandamunda Railway Hospital, where Etwa was declared brought dead by the treating doctors, and Budhram was referred to Rourkela for better treatment. The Naxals had set up red banners calling for a bandh on the tracks by midnight, registering their presence. Yet the RPF sent railway staff on patrolling duty without properly checking the tracks for security. We demand that the railway ensure foolproof security for railway staff at any cost," Shashi Mishra, divisional convenor of the SER Railway Men's Congress, told HT on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the RPF inspector of the control room issued an order suspending all movement between the Bimalgarh-Kiriburu section following the explosive blast.
"In connection with the explosive blast, it is to inform that, as per the order of the competent authority, all kinds of movement between the Bimalgarh-Kiriburu section and the Rangra-Karampada section are to be stopped immediately," read the order issued by the RPF inspector (control room), a copy of which is with HT, on Sunday.
RPF commandant of Chakradharpur, Shankar Kutty, and West Singhbhum superintendent of police (SP), Rakesh Ranjan, could not be contacted for a comment on the matter despite repeated attempts....
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