The departure of Chamundi Express from Bengaluru station was delayed for over 45 minutes on Saturday evening after South Western Railway officials refused to let hundreds of farmers travel without tickets. The farmers came to Bengaluru from Mandya and Mysuru districts to take part in a rally demanding protection for coconut and arecanut farmers affected by a crash in prices.
They barged into the station and demanded to be allowed to travel without tickets. They prevented the Chamundi Express from leaving for around 45 minutes. According to sources, MLA K.S. Puttannaiah, who led the rally in the morning, asked officials to let farmers travel without tickets saying it is their right. However, with officials refusing to budge and after realising that the train would not leave the station, the MLA sent his supporters to buy tickets for the entire lot gathered on Platform No 6.
Meanwhile, on hearing about the developments in Bengaluru, some farmers stopped the Bengaluru-Chamarajnagar Fast Passenger at Maddur and insisted that they would not let it move till the demand of their colleagues — to be allowed to travel ticketless — was accepted. The train was held up for more than 30 minutes.
The delay in the departure of Chamundi Express affected the schedule of a passenger train from Bengaluru to Mysuru. It left at 7.30 pm instead of its scheduled departure time of 7 pm.
