Underlining the indifference and disregard shown to the North East people, a Travelling Ticketing Examiner (TTE) of the Bangalore Railway Division has been found allegedly ill-treating and showering abusive remarks at the students from Sikkim, including ladies who boarded the special train service from Karnataka.
TTE abuses students from North-East
In a video that went viral across the social media, the ticket examining officer is seen entering a compartment with the North East students and starts shouting and ordering the female students to sit in specific places and to remove the luggage that they kept in front of the seats.
Quite rude and arrogant, the TTE is seen repeatedly shouting loud at the students who try to make their positions inside the compartment.
The incident reportedly took place on May 19 on a Shramik Special train to New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal from the Cantonment Railway station that carried a good number of students from the North East.
The video was stealthily shot by one of the students while the others were busy placing their luggage as the TTC started his verbal abuse. It was then posted on Facebook by one of the students and a link to it was tweeted widely in other social media sites including Twitter by tagging the Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and the official handle of the Railway Ministry on Wednesday.
"See this video in which a Railway staff is ill-behaving with some stranded North Eastern people who boarded a special train from Karnataka," wrote Ninong Ering, former MP of Arunachal East Constituency in his Twitter handle.
TTE suspended
As seen in the video, when one of the male students rose from is seats to keep the luggage on the top berth, the TTE, who till then ordered to arrange the baggage, shouts at him to sit back on the seat. While the students sat maintaining required social distance, the officer can be heard remarking sarcastically, "If you want to observe social distancing, then travel by a flight."
In addition to this, he can be heard asking how much money the students have given to the police to afford the service.
As the video went viral with much criticism over the Railway board and the persistent disregard and indifference casted on the North East people, Divisional Railway Manager, A K Verma profusely apologised on Twitter to the students for the TTE's indecent behaviour.
According to the sources, the TTE was suspended from the service. "We have immediately placed him on suspension. Stringent action will be taken against him. 99% of the railway staff is well behaved. Whenever we come across any such misbehaviour, we take instant action," told Verma to the media.
Watch the TTE abusing the North East students on train:
See this video in which a Railway staff is ill-behaving with some stranded North Eastern people who boarded a special train from #Karnataka.#NorthEast #indianrailways #india #COVID19 #shramikspecial pic.twitter.com/eAmuyz8woa
— Ninong Ering (@ninong_erring) May 21, 2020
