Title - With Bansal at the helm, city has a long wish list

Ludhiana:
As the Union Railway Minister Pawan Bansal will present his maiden railway budget in the Parliament tomorrow, all sections of the people from the city are pinning very high hopes. He is the second ever railway minister from Punjab after Swarn Singh, who held this post way back in 1962-63 in the Congress government headed by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru.The speculation that the incumbent railway minister intends to do something for the city was further strengthened when Bansal paid a surprise visit to the railway station here last week and saw the available infrastructure.Members of the business and industry, frequent travellers, and people from all walks of life are quite hopeful that the railway budget will have a bounty for the city and the state by way of introduction of new trains, better infrastructure and facilities at major railway stations, speedy completion of pending projects, including Ludhiana-Chandigarh rail link and freight corridor.

Badish K Jindal, president, Federation of Small Industries of India (FASII), said: “The condition of the railway station here needs to be improved on top priority. The city is a hub of exports and it does not have a proper airport. Buyers and businessmen from across the globe frequently visit the city where a dirty, gloomy and ill-equipped railway station greets them. A lot more has to be done in this direction and merely giving the name of an Adarsh Model Railway Station will not do.”

He also stressed on speedy completion of Eastern Freight Corridor to facilitate transportation of raw material and finished goods both for domestic and export markets. Jindal cautioned the minister against any further hike in freight rates as the rates were already very high in comparison to road transport and any more burden will render the industry uncompetitive.

The city residents also wanted early completion of under-construction Ludhiana-Chandigarh rail link which has been hanging fire for last more than 12 years, and the cost of the project has escalated from initial Rs 250 crore to Rs 1,100 crore due to delay.

Ravinder Arora, a businessman, said the project had missed many deadlines and the railway must ensure that it now becomes operational as early as possible.

Jaspreet Singh, a bank employee and Manav, an executive with a private company, said expeditious execution of flyover in place of Lakkat Pul, the new foot bridge at the railway station, direct trains from the city to places like Bangaluru, Hyderabad and Bhopal and exploring the possibility of running double decker coaches in Shatabdi trains to New Delhi were expected in the city.