No Abohar-UP direct train, NGO writes to rly board

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Raj Sadosh

Abohar, May 14

Thousands of families from Uttar Pradesh and other states who have settled in Abohar and Sriganganagar for the past many years in search of livelihood and have become voters now rue the fact that there is no direct train to their native places.

The Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangh, an NGO, in its memorandum to Railway Board Chairman Jaya Verma Sinha has said that at present there is not a single direct train service available to Uttar Pradesh from Sriganganagar and Abohar on the Bathinda section. Migrants from Uttar Pradesh are employed in agricultural lands and factories in this tail-end area of Punjab and Rajasthan and many have also started their own businesses. Apart from this, hundreds of devotees of this area visit towns of religious importance like Prayag Raj, Ayodhya Dham and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, but no direct rail service has proved to be a hindrance in this matter.

The NGO president, Sushil Kumar Goyal, has written in the memorandum that 14525-26 Ambala Cantt-Sriganganagar Intercity train can be extended to Varanasi via Saharanpur, Bareilly, Lucknow and Ayodhya Dham. Similarly, 14241-14242 Prayag Raj-Saharanpur Nauchandi Express can be extended to Sriganganagar, Suratgarh, Anoopgarh via Rajpura, Dhuri, Bathinda and Abohar.

By doing this, the families living in these areas will get relief from travel troubles. Besides, these trains will also benefit students and personnel of the central security forces going to metropolitan cities for higher education or to their native places.

Earlier, some NGOs had in separate letters said that 13007-13008 Udyan Abha Toofan Express was cancelled by Eastern Railways during the Covid period. Dozens of memorandums were sent by them demanding the restoration of this train to the Railway Board, Railway Minister and other senior officials as well as to the MPs representing the area, but no MP took up the demand seriously at a higher level. Railways had to face huge revenue losses after this train was stopped.