The people of Uttarakhand hope that the historic neglect of the State in successive Rail Budgets would finally end when Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presents his Rail Budget on Thursday.
New trains, a double railway track between Dehradun-Haridwar, a new railway link between Dehradun and Saharanpur via Vikasnagar, extension of Ramnagar-Choukhutia rail line up to Gairsain , Delhi-Kotdwar via Meerut-Mawana–Bijnor Najibabad rail link, regular shuttle services from Dehradun to Haridwar, Roorkee, Kotdwar and Rishikesh and connecting the Char Dhams with railway network are on the wish list of the people of the State.
Ramesh Jakhmola a retired Government official told this correspondent that in its interim Rail Budget last year the NDA Government had stressed on providing passenger amenities and increasing security but no improvement is visible on ground. Rishikesh resident SS Bhandari said that the Modi Government’s real intention on the proposed plan to link the Char Dhams would materialise in the Budget. He said that the fate of Rishikesh Karanprayag rail line is still hanging in balance in dearth of funds for last many years. Nathuwala resident Sukhdev Singh said that the Dehradun railway station should be developed to accommodate trains with 24 bogeys. He said that the Harrawala station should be developed to ease pressure on Dehradun railway station.
Amit Kumar, a resident of GMS road said that he hopes that Dehradun Gorakhpur Express which runs twice a week would be made daily; he added that a large number of people use it to go to eastern Uttar Pradesh.
The porters of the Dehradun railway station are also pinning their hopes on the Railway Minister to improve their pathetic living conditions. One of the porters, Vyas Yadav said that all the porters demand that the Railway Minister should induct them in the regular staff. He said that the porters are forced to live a life of misery as the money earned by them is not enough. Another porter Ram Vilas said that there are 47 porters in the Dehradun railway station which are virtually unemployed these days as people prefer to carry their own luggage nowadays. “In such scenario we are hoping that the Railways Minister announces some welfare scheme for us”, he said.