Lost ammunition consignment surfaces at Bhayandar railway station -- railway police begin enquiry

Lost ammunition consignment surfaces at Bhayandar railway station -- railway police begin enquiry
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

SEPTEMBER 6: The Government Railway Police (GRP) has begun an investigation into the shocking incident of a wagon-load of high-calibre ammunition lying undetected in a derelict railway yard of a north Mumbai suburb for over two years.

This follows last month's discovery of the 105 mm ammunition from a sealed goods wagon parked in Bhayandar railway station for over two years. The manifest inside revealed that the shells were despatched by the ordnance depot Jabalpur to the Naval Armament Depot (NAD), Uran, two years ago.

``We will ascertain why the different authorities kept quiet about this missing shipment for so long,'' Railway Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria told Express Newsline.

The ammunition was discovered on August 19 when the railway officials, the station master and RPF personnel, broke open the sealed wagon parked in the shunting yard near Bhayandar station in north Mumbai.

One of the boxes inside the wagon was opened and found to contain four rounds of 105 mm ammunition meant for the navy's coastal battery guns. The wagon was resealed and sent to the NAD last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a GRP team is conducting enquiries at the armament depot Jabalpur while GRP officials have queried western railway authorities and NAD officials in Mumbai.

A defence spokesperson said that the Indian Navy was aware of the missing shipment and had been in correspondence with the railways to trace it `for some time'. The wagon had gone missing due to erroneous address coding of consignee and the matter was taken up with the railways, he said.

Western Railway spokesperson Vinod Asthana clarified that this was a case of an `unconnected wagon' since labels denoting the consignor and consignee of the shipment pasted on the wagon, were missing in transit. ``We thus had no way of knowing what was inside the sealed wagon.'' The bogie was part of a freight train initially transported by Central Railway to the western railway's marshalling yard at Surat where it was transported to Jogeshwari and later to Bhayandar. The Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai division has ordered an inquiry to find out why the wagon was lying unclaimed for such a long period.

There was speculation that the consignment comprised surface-to-air missiles, but this was dismissed by defence officials. ``Each missile costs several crores and involves special care while transportation and there's no question of them being transported this way.''

The defence spokesperson clarified that the ammunition in its present state was stable and safe for railway transportation since it could be used only in a specific calibre gun and the shell gets armed for explosion only after the detonator (explosion initiating device) was inserted.