It was ‘rail-roko’ of a different kind which took the railway authorities by surprise. A group of protesters from Harapanahalli village, who lost land for the completion of the Kottur-Harihar new line project, came armed with an attachment order for the train itself, issued by the Harihar Civil Court.
The protesters stopped the Dharwad-Bengaluru Intercity express and detained it at the Harihar station for around one and a half hours, from 8 a.m on Monday till the Assistant Engineer of Davangere came and gave an undertaking to resolve the matter within seven days.
In a statement, South Western Railway claimed that the protest was in relation to three land acquisition cases which are being heard in court. “The land losers had filed an execution petition on April 29, 2015, for which hearing is still in progress. The last hearing was held on September 24, 2016, and the next date of hearing is on November 5,” the statement said. SWR officials said they were unaware of the attachment warrant which had been issued by the court on October 18. “The Railways had no prior information about the proposed blockage of train by agitators. Efforts are being made to mention Monday’s occurrence to the court and to seek the court’s directions against issuing of such attachment orders in the future in contravention of the provisions of the Railway Act,” the statement said.
