Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar and a couple of Shiv Sena MPs repeatedly clashed in the Lok Sabha this evening when the latter demanded an immediate response from the minister about an incident in which four ‘‘Marathi boys’’ were allegedly thrown out of a train compartment and killed earlier this month.Nitish was replying to a discussion on three Railways-related bills when Shiv Sena MP Mohan Rawale suddenly started shouting about the death of the four boys. Nitish was clearly taken aback by the outburst since no mention of the incident had been made throughout the nearly three-hour discussion that preceded his reply.He requested the MP to give him details of the incident in writing and promised to give a detailed reply after due investigations. The reply only enraged Rawale who was then joined by fellow Sena MP Prakash Paranjpe in shouting at the minister.Paranjpe was incensed that the minister had not bothered to gather information about the incident from the Railway authorities and repeatedly shouted: ‘‘Is it our job to bring it to your notice?’’Repeated pleas from the Chair — Devendra Prasad Yadav was presiding over the House at the time — had no effect on the agitated Sena MPs. Nitish then lost his temper and said the MPs did not have any details of the incident — when it happened, where it took place — and yet demanded a reply on the spot.The clash lasted over 15 minutes and finally the MPs quietened down, and the bills were passed. But Rawale once again took up the issue, this time reading out from a paper with details of the incident. Finally, the Chair ordered him to sit down, pointing out that he was devaluing the importance of the issue by his behaviour, considering that the minister had already assured him of an investigation into the incident.Earlier, an otherwise routine discussion came alive when Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD), in his inimitable style, both entertained and enlightened the House with his first hand knowledge of the vagaries of train travel, particularly in the UP-Bihar region. Speaking on the bill to curb ticketless travel, he said while one crore people travel by train in India every day, the total number of ticketless travellers per year is one crore and twenty lakh. While criticising ticketless travellers, he also pointed out that thousands of people are routinely cheated by touts and railway personnel. Even seats reserved for MPs are sold, he said.
