The termination of the Bagha Jatin Passenger train at Santragachi instead of Howrah has become a cause of concern for the people of Baleswar, Mayurbhanj and Bhadrak districts.
Baleswar MP Rabindra Jena on Wednesday raised the issue in Parliament during the Zero Hour referring to the concern of the people and the advantages and disadvantages of the Railways’ decision.
He said the train was introduced decades ago with a sole objective of providing facility to smalltime traders of Bhadrak, Baleswar and Mayurbhanj districts for selling their locally produced fish, vegetables in the nearest metropolis of Kolkata and Howrah and return to their homes by procuring various commodities from Kolkata for sale in local markets.
The advantages of the train were its early morning start so as to reach Howrah by early business hours, nominal fare of Rs 50 for close to 240 km and return after a four-hour time gap.
The railway authorities have terminated the train at Santragachhi, the station before the original station of Howrah since July 4.
This has resulted in serious multiple problems for the traders for the disrupted routine convenience of decades as it has directly affected their livelihoods, Jena observed.
“Following severe discontent among the traders and the farmers, upon inquiry, we were given to understand that the train has been terminated at Santragachhi to undertake certain maintenance work. We failed to comprehend the reason behind stopping this train at Santragachhi instead of allowing it to run up to Howrah when other numerable trains from various regions are allowed to take the same route to Howrah regularly,” he said.
This is a clear defeat of the whole purpose for which the train was initially intended and defeats the objective of serving smalltime traders and farmers.
“In this context, I urge the Minister to undertake necessary steps to reverse this abrupt and arbitrary decision and restore Bagha Jatin Passenger till Howrah for protecting the livelihoods of about 4 lakh traders, poor travellers and farmers of Baleswar and Mayurbhanj districts, who commute from my constituency to the nearest metropolis,” Jena added.