Kumaon people protest state’s neglect in Railway Budget

Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, February 26

Members of the Tanakpur-Bageshwar Rail Nirman Sangharsh Samiti burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and all five BJP MPs from the state at Bageshwar here today for neglect of Uttarakhand in the budget. They accused the Centre of neglecting Uttarakhand. “Our struggle to have a railway line up to Bageshwar will continue,” said the protesters.

Samiti leader Kharak Ram said, “We are disappointed at the Centre’s neglect of the state in the Railway Budgets repeatedly. The construction of a railway line from Tanakpur to Bageshwar hasn’t been sanctioned even this time.” The samiti leaders said they had been agitating in support of their demand since 2004 and had staged dharnas five times in Delhi, besides organising ‘Jail Bharo’ campaign but to no avail.

“By neglecting our demands, the Centre has not only neglected the sensitive Indo-China border but also people of the border districts,” said Hayat Singh Mehra, another leader of the samiti.

In the Jauljibi town of the Pithoragarh district, UKD activists too staged a protest against the neglect of the town in the Railway Budget. They said the five MPs of the state, who had been chosen by the people, were “cheaters” as they “never stood for the people of the state.”

Chandra Shekhar Kapri, a senior UKD leader, said the Central Government was mulling to submerge the border villages by constructing Pancheswar dam, besides being apathetic to the construction of rail tracks and roads.