Pearl Group investors block rail track

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 17

Hundreds of people, who have lost their hard-earned money invested in the Pearl Group, today blocked the Ludhiana-Delhi railway track and disrupted rail traffic on the Ludhiana-Amritsar, Ludhiana-New Delhi and Ludhiana-Dhuri/Ferozepur sections for several hours. The protest, which started at 4 pm, continued for nearly four hours and rail traffic was restored at around 7.30 pm. Around 24 up and down trains were delayed by up to five hours.

The protesters, led by activists of a body of affected investors, Insaf Di Awaz, had earlier announced to hold a dharna at Grain Market here on August 17 and 18 to highlight the indifferent attitude of the government towards their plight, but blocking rail traffic in such a manner and for such a long time was not on their schedule. 

“It was just on the spur of the moment that we decided to squat on the railway track to attract the attention of the authorities to problems being faced by thousands of unfortunate investors in Pearl Group,” said Mohinderpal Singh, president of the Insaf Di Awaz.

Railway officials said five trains were stuck at the Ludhiana railway station, including the Ludhiana-New Delhi Shatabdi, while many other trains on their way to Ludhiana from various directions were stopped at the nearby stations. 

Another activist of the Insaf Di Awaz said even though the Supreme Court had set up a committee to formulate a mechanism for refund of thousands of crores worth of investment of the people made in Pearl Group, none of the investors had so far received any money. He charged the SAD-BJP government and before them the Congress government (in 2002) for patronising the company and making people invest in its fake schemes.

Meanwhile, the rail travellers were at the receiving end. They were making a beeline to the enquiry counters to know the fate of their trains. Madan Gopal, a Delhi-bound passenger, said he had been waiting for the past more than one and a half hours but still there were no signs that he would be able to commence his journey on the train which was stuck at the railway station.

Trains delayed

12317 Kolkata-Amritsar Akal Takht Express (5.30 hrs), 19612 Amritsar-Ajmer Express (3 hrs), 12498 Amritsar-New Delhi Shan-e-Punjab (2.45 hrs), 22705 Tirupati-Jammu Humsafar Express (4.40 hrs), 1715 Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand Express (2.30 hrs), 12032 Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (2 hrs), 12474 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Ahmedabad Sarvodaya Express (3.45 hrs), 12238 Jammu-Varanasi Begumpura Express (1.50 hrs), 14613 Chandigarh-Ferozepur Express (2 hrs), 15933 Dibrugarh-Amritsar Express (2.20 hrs)