Posted by: shyamBDR August 25, 2009
Good thing, we don't have train in Nepal
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The story below sounds very familiar to me...did we adopt this ?


A group of students travelling without tickets in an air-conditioned railway coach in the northern Indian state of Bihar were recently asked by the ticket examiner to vacate their seats.


Nothing unusual about that, but, in this case, the students took umbrage, and set four coaches on fire.


Railway authorities totted up the losses: each air-conditioned coach costs eight million rupees ($161,000; £98,000) to manufacture, and the losses from the Bihar incident cost the railways nearly $650,000. This incident again proved that burning trains have become a popular form of protest and vandalism in Bihar.


In June, two passenger intercity trains were attacked and six coaches burnt down by a mob at Khusurupur station - the attackers were angry with the railways after it scrapped an illegal "halt" for an intercity train at the station.


But why do people in Bihar vent their ire on trains and set them on fire?


"When you target railways, you disrupt movement of trains for several hours and then your voice reaches the concerned authorities," he said.


"I believe it is because of the lack of public awareness and respect for government property."


In fact, trains are attacked in Bihar over every other issue.


Then there is the problem of illegal "halt stations" where trains are forced to stop by local people - there are more than 100 of them in the state, many with actual names: some are named after local politicians and one even after a former president.


And yet while rail travel is unsafe in Bihar, seven federal railway ministers have come from the state.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8213488.stm

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