Jamshedpur: For the residents and the business community of the steel city, Union railway minister Sadanand Gowda’s railway budget promised little for Chakrdharpur railway division, the highest revenue earning division in terms of freight.
But, it indicated that achhe din aanwale hain (good days are here to come) especially for students community when the budget announced a direct weekly train between Tatanagar and Baiyyappanahali (near Bangalore).
“The existing Tatanagar-Yeshwantpur (near Bangalore) Express (weekly) is unable to cater to the rush of passengers especially students and patients. We had on several occasions requested the railway authorities for increasing the frequency of the train. But, introduction of a new train in the same route will immensely benefit the passengers,” said Vijay Anand Moonka, vice-president of the Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( SCCI ) and chairman of the trade outfit’s railway committee.
Railway authorities at Garden Reach, headquarters of South Eastern Railway (SER) said the new train announced in the budget will either run on Wednesday or Thursday.
The railway budget announced two other trains, Hatia – Rourkela Passenger and a DEMU train between Sambalpur and Rourkela (six days a week). Both the trains will run in the Chakradharpur railway division. This apart the budget announced railway connectivity to iron-ore mines between Nayagarh ( Odisha) and Banspani ( West Singhbhum).
The SCCI gave thumbs down to the budget for it did not have any mention of the long-pending Kandra-Namkum railway line project. “We were much hopeful that the Modi government will at least take up the important railway project which will reduce the travel time between Ranchi and Jamshedpur by over one hour but it did not happen. Moreover, all our outstanding demand for a train to Jaipur, Hyderabad, an air-conditioned train to Howrah from Tatanagar remains pending,” said Suresh Sonthalia, the SCCI president.
The Chhotanagpur Passenger Association hailed the budget for initiatives like improvement in e-ticketing system and recruitment of RPF women constables for safety of women passengers.
“Getting tickets online through e-ticketing system is a big problem for passengers. The announcement in the budget that it can handle 7000 bookings per minute will benefit the passengers. Moreover, recruitment of 4,000 women RPF constables will ensure proper safety and security of women passengers in running trains,” said U K Srivastava, a senior functionary of the Chhotanagpur Passenger Association.
