Title - Newly-laid railway track awaits trains

Fazilka : The Railways is trying to underplay the issue of commencement of trains on the newly-laid railway track between Fazilka and Abohar on one pretext or the other. This is despite the fact that the department has already spent a hefty amount of Rs 216 crores on this 42 kilometers long track.Information revealed that the total amount of Rs 86.44 crore was to be spent on the project had the construction work been completed in the stipulated period, by March 2007.But the track was completed in March 2011, and at present, is not in operation.“Since then, the officials of the department have been reportedly making lame excuses to cover up their alleged failure in making the track operational,” said a social activist Lila Dhar Sharma.Earlier, the officials of the department kept telling the people in the area for about a year that when the Commissioner, Railway Safety (CRS), Lucknow, will carry out the final inspection of the track, it shall start functioning.But now, the officials have started making another excuse that the desired staff has not been deputed on the track.Senior Division Operative Manager, Ferozepur Division, Rajnish Aggarwal told a delegation of the Northern Railway Passengers Samiti, led by its President Dr Amar Lal Baghla, that the staff has yet not been deployed on the railway stations and the track. Hence, it would take some more time to run the trains. Interestingly, he said he would write to the higher authorities in favour of the demand.“The railway department has spent a hefty amount on the track but surprisingly, does not seem keen to earn by running the trains. Had the department made the track operational a year back, it could have earned handsome revenue,” questioned Baghla.The common man is the one who is most affected as he has to pay more for the bus journey as compared to rail travel. The passengers have alleged that an influential transport lobby of the area has been successful in shelving the proposal of running the train because of the fear that the passengers would switch over to train travel, which is nearly five times cheaper.