NGO sends notice to Railway authorities for revoking 2 trains

Our Correspondent

Fazilka, June 14

Resentment prevails among commuters over the discontinuation of two trains on over 100-km Fazilka-Kotkapura stretch. An NGO, Northern Railway Passengers Samiti, has served a legal notice to the railway authorities for discontinuing the train numbers 74981 and 74984 from Fazilka to Kotkapura and vice versa recently.

Northern Railway Passengers Samiti general secretary Babu Ram, in the notice sent to the General Manager and Divisional Railway Managers of Ferozepur and Ambala divisions, has stated that on the one hand, the Railway Department has launched a fortnight campaign to offer better services to the commuters but on the other hand, it had discontinued two trains on the Fazilka-Kotkapura track.

These trains had been offering connectivity to the passengers of Fazilka, Lakhewali, Muktsar, Bariwala railway stations to Mumbai-bound Punjab Mail at Kotkapura railway station. Now, with no such facility, people are a harassed lot.

“The passengers are left in the lurch as they have no other viable route to catch Punjab Mail from other railway stations,” said Amar Lal Baghla, president of the Northern Railway Passengers Samiti.

Members of the Northern Railway Passengers Samiti have warned the railway authorities that if the trains are not brought on the track, they would stage protests at railway stations falling on this track.

BJP activists meet Railway Minister 

Abohar: Local BJP leaders have requested Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to expedite the construction of a light iron steel bridge near the Abohar railway station for which state government had deposited Rs 7.30 crore with the Ambala division office of the Northern Railway.  

The deputation led by parliamentarian Avinash Rai Khanna met the minister at New Delhi yesterday. Former state BJP president Prof Brij Lal Rinwa and Municipal Council president Pramil Kalani also sought the early clearance for the railway under pass on the Sriganganagar road, for which 

Rs 5.58 crore budget had already been sanctioned. They demanded that a provision for another underpass on the Thakur Abadi road be made in the next Rail Budget as hundreds of vehicles get held up at the manned crossing.