RAILWAY BUDGET DISAPPOINTS RESIDENTS OF THIS BORDER AREA

Ferozepur, February 27: (Vikramditya Sharma) : Few of the residents of Ferozepur are feeling deceived after the announcement of second NDA Railway Budget today. In the last Union Railway Budget, overall 58 trains were announced by the then Central Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda. The Ferozepur Railway Division had got important trains like Ferozepur-Chandigarh Express, Amritsar-Nagpur AC Express (Weeky), Amritsar-Sehrasa Jansadharan Express (Weekly), Kamakhya-Katra Express via Darbhanga (Weekly), Indore-Jammu Tawi Express (Weekly), Delhi-Pathankot High Speed train in this railway budget. However, situation is far different this time.

No major announcements regarding the new trains have been made by the Central Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. The residents of this border town were excited after the commencement of Ferozepur-Chandigarh Express which was sanctioned in the last budget but all of them had to face disappointment today. There were several important pending projects which could change the lives of the residents of this border area .

Nothing has been done for the work on much awaited 30 Km long Ferozepur-Patti rail link which will shorten the distance between the Northern States including Punjab to the trade capitals of Gujrat and Maharastra has not been started yet. This crucial rail link was given “green signal” by the Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in the Rail Budget 2013 presented before the Parliament; however it still remains a far distant dream.  The residents of these two strategically important border districts believed that this proposed rail link was vital for Ferozepur and Amritsar. Besides, the demand for train to Haridwar and extension of Moga-New Delhi Shatabadi train seems to be lost in the files only.

Since the Railway Minister has tried to give a “Commuter Friendly” budget, few sections of the society are satisfied. Harish Monga, Secretary of Senior Citizen forum and a social worker says that it is an innovative budget. “I am happy to see that the railway minister has not made any promises which cannot be fulfilled. Issues like Passenger’s safety, women safety, Anti-collision device system, involvement of corporate world in railway, use of Bio-toilets and stress on neat and clean railway stations, are very important, Monga added.