ACKHSA leaders meet NF Railway GM

Special correspondent

SILCHAR, Feb 19: A three member delegation of All Cachar-Karimganj-Hailakandi Students’ Association (ACKHSA) leaders led by Rupam ndi Purkayastha, advisor, met H K Jaggi, general mager, NF Railway, at Maligaon recently with a 8 point charter of demands on behalf of the people of Barak Valley. While expressing their thankfulness to the NF Railway authorities for completing the Silchar-Lumding BG and introduction of daily passenger train from here to Guwahati as well as thrice a week Kanchanjanga Express to Sealdah, the leaders have demanded to make Kanchanjanga Express daily.

The long stoppages of the Express at Kamakhya, Guwahati, Migrendisa, New Haflong and Badarpur station have been questioned by travelling public who undergo inconveniences. This is abnormally affecting the arrival and departure of trains from both ways. As an example, the abnormal detention of the train for 1 hour 50 minutes at New Haflong and 2 hours at Guwahati on February 7 has been quite irritating and troublesome for the passengers. They wanted to know if there is no monitoring authority to ensure run of trains according to the time schedule.

They have also raised the question of nexus between a section of railway officials and the transport lobby. A maximum stoppage of 30 minutes at Kamakhya and Badarpur is sufficient to allow passengers to board and disembark. Along with that ACKHSA leaders have pressed for attachment of a pantry car with the Kanchanjanga Express. The commissioning of long distance trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and other express and mail trains from here to Kolkata, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai are also the legitimate demand.

ACKHSA leaders have impressed upon the general mager H K Jaggi to activate the now defunct Silchar-Karimganj-Mahishasan-Sylhet-Akhaura-Kolkata track as well as Silchar-Agartala-Akhaura-Kolkata track. This is not only in the interest of the people of Barak Valley but also for Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. This will change the socio-economic face of the entire region. It was against this backdrop that the then Union Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan laid the foundation stone of Silchar-Lumding BG in 1996. They have also pressed for revival of age old Barak Valley and Cachar Express trains.

Daily services between Karimganj and Agartala are also on the charter of demands. Along with that, adequate attention has to be given to the upkeep and maintence of trains origiting from here. Particular attention has to be given to cleanliness in the trains and stations. Presently, the state of affairs calls for much to be done. Besides, safety and security of passengers have always to be put on priority for that foolproof security arrangement and round the clock vigilance are of prime importance in order to make travelling by trains easy, safe and free from tension. H K Jaggi after going through the charter of demands assured the delegation of his best of efforts to respond to them wherever possible and feasible.