Title - East Central Railway GM to look into railway users' demands

PATNA: The East Central Railway (ECR) recently held a high-level meeting of the Zonal Railway Users' Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) at its headquarters, Hajipur, under the chairmanship of ECR GM Varun Bharthuar.The meeting discussed the ongoing railway projects, safety measures, passenger amenities and running of trains in different divisions of ECR. Most of the members demanded introduction of new trains for Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, stoppages of the trains and cleanliness on running trains. One of the members urged the ECR GM to simplify the process of obtaining 'tatkal' tickets. Proper announcement was demanded at the Patna Junction so that passengers do not face problems while boarding trains.Apart from committee members, principal heads of the ECR and other senior railway officials attended the meeting. The GM was also urged to ensure that information about special trains is given through the integrated railway inquiry system number 139. Besides, most of the long-distance passenger trains have been running without pantry cars causing great hardship to passengers. The GM was urged to provide pantry car facilities at least in Patna-Indore Express, Patna-Ajmer Express and Patna-Jammu Tawi Express in the larger interest of passengers.Earlier, Bharthuar highlighted the achievements of ECR during the last fiscal year. He assured the members that the railways would look into their demands sympathetically. Deputy general manager A K Jha conducted the meeting.

Protest Day observed: The members of National Federation of Indian Railways (NFIR) held a peaceful demonstration in front of the ECR headquarters at Hajipur on Friday. They held demonstration as part of the 'protest day' being observed across the country from June 18 to 22 to highlight the grievances of railway employees. Their demands included immediate filling up of all vacant posts under Group 'D' and 'C' categories, payment of pension arrears to retired employees and proper incentives to running staff.

Prominent among those who sat on a dharna included NFIR zonal president Ram Murth, secretary P S Chaturvedi, organizing secretaries S K Jha, A K Verma, Triveni Prasad and Rajesh Ranjan. Later, a memorandum was submitted to ECR GM Varun Bharthuar.