RailEnquiry

An alert was sounded across West Bengal on Thursday following the attack by Maoists on the Dhandbad-Patna Intercity Express between Jamui and Bhalui stations in Bihar.Security has also been tightened along the State’s borders with Odisha and Jharkhand.Director General of Police Naparajit Mukerjee said that the district magistrates and superintendents of police of the Maoist-affected districts in the southwest have been asked to stay in contact with the State headquarters. The State administration is in constant touch with the Railway Board, he added. Additional security arrangements have been made in the Eastern and South Eastern Railway. Security has been beefed up in trains and railway stations in the Asansol division of the Eastern Railway adjoining Jharkhand. As for trains passing through the Maoist-affected areas of the State, special security precautions have been taken, said an official of South Eastern Railway. Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury blamed intelligence failure on the part of the State governments for the Maoist attack. “It is necessary on the part of the State government to provide security to the Railways,” he told The Hindu over phone.