Palwal residents demand revival of EMU facility suspended during Covid

Palwal, July 20

The upcoming Union Budget has revived the demand for increasing Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) or passenger trains for everyday commuters in the NCR region. The issue of the alleged low frequency of trains has been taken up by various associations in cities, including Palwal, repeatedly, but to no avail.

Prakash Mangla, President of the Railway Passengers Association, Palwal, said the matter of the facility of EMUs was a major concern for a number of residents in the Palwal region as the frequency of the local trains to Delhi and other parts of the NCR continued to remain poor. He said only half the number of trains that were operational before the Covid-19 pandemic were now available to passengers.

He claimed that 50 per cent of the trains that were withdrawn since March 2020 had not been restarted, resulting in inconvenience to commuters. The number of such trains functional at present is around 13, it is revealed. It is claimed that more than 50,000 passengers travel on EMU trains from Palwal, Hodal, Rundhi, Sholaka, Banchari, Asawati and Kosi Kalan. Mangla said the government needed to introduce more trains for the convenience of everyday commuters in the upcoming budget.

Deepak Aggarwal, Secretary of Dainik Yatri Sangh, Kosi Kalan, said over 7,000 commuters from the town suffered due to the non-availability of an adequate number of EMUs for Delhi or Ghaziabad. He said while only two trains were available in the morning, no train was available for those who wished to return in the evening. He said he travelled to the national capital every day for over 20 years and the commuting expenses had shot up three to four times due to the unavailability of local trains in the last four years. He said the association had written letters to the authorities concerned, including the Union Railway and Finance Minister, for increasing the frequency of EMUs on the route.

Budget revives hopes for F’bad metro

Faridabad: Even as the two proposed Metro rail projects in the district await final approval and allocation of funds, the upcoming Union Budget has revived the expectations.

“It’s high time that the proposed projects hanging fire for many years got through as the Union Budget is set to be presented for this financial year,” says Neeraj Sharma, MLA from the NIT Assembly segment here. Sharma, who pushed for the DPR of the proposed Metro rail link between Faridabad and Gurugram, said the delay exposed the tall claims of development of the ‘’double engine’’ government.

He said even though the DPR of Faridabad-Gurugram Metro announced in 2016 was ready in 2020, the government failed to allocate funds. The Light Metro Rail Corridor has a proposed length of 32.14 km and nine stations. The DPR was handed over to the Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation in June 2020. Describing the Metro as a vital instrument of transportation, Rajive Chawla, an entrepreneur, said it could become a lifeline for Faridabad as thousands of people commute to Gurugram daily. Ramnik Prabhakar, another entrepreneur, said while the allocation of budget was expected, the state government needed to push the matter as it might involve huge funds which could be a major constraint.

AK Gaur, a resident, said the state government had also faltered on the announcement of Metro rail connectivity between Faridabad and Palwal cities in 2023. TNS