Sasaram: Hundreds of pilgrims travelling to Gaya for offering ‘pind daan’ staged a brief road blockade near the UP-Bihar integrated check post at Mohania in Kaimur district on Wednesday morning after the transport department’s server failure left more than 50 vehicles stranded overnight. The outage prevented drivers from paying entry tax and obtaining challans required to proceed.The pilgrims, who had arrived from Uttar Pradesh and other states, reached the check post on Tuesday evening on their way to Gaya. However, when drivers approached the transport department counter to pay the mandatory entry tax, they were informed that the server was not functioning. As a result, tax challans could not be generated and the vehicles remained stuck at the check post throughout the night.The prolonged wait caused considerable hardship for passengers, particularly elderly pilgrims. Many complained about the lack of adequate arrangements for drinking water, food and lighting at the premises. As frustration grew, passengers briefly blocked the road on Wednesday morning and demanded that their vehicles be allowed to continue their journey without further delay.After receiving information about the blockade, transport department officials and Mohania SHO Alok Kumar reached the spot and held talks with the agitating pilgrims. The passengers told officials that they had spent the entire night at the check post without access to basic amenities.To ease the situation, authorities allowed more than 50 vehicles to proceed to Gaya without paying the entry tax at the check post. Drivers were also provided with the phone number of the district transport officer to contact in case they faced any further difficulties.The incident also highlighted deficiencies in facilities at the integrated check post. Drivers and passengers alleged that several lights on the premises were non-functional and that adequate drinking water arrangements were unavailable despite the seasonal surge in pilgrim traffic during the pind daan period.The complaints came a day after the district magistrate and superintendent of police had inspected the integrated check post and directed officials to ensure proper maintenance of facilities and arrangements.Kaimur DTO Alok Rahi said tax challans could not be generated because the server was down, causing inconvenience to vehicle operators.Mohania SHO Alok Kumar said the pilgrims had blocked the road for a short period after their vehicles were not allowed to proceed due to the server outage. He said the situation was brought under control after officials intervened and the vehicles were subsequently allowed to continue their journey to Gaya.
