The residents of Sambalpur are much aggrieved over a decision of the Railways to close the Fatak Rail Station situated in the heart of the city and catering to the needs of 70 per cent of users.
Notably, the people of the region have got an emotional attachment with the station as the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi had got down here to address meetings during the freedom movement.
And it has got a long history of 126 years of existence from 1884 under the Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) when it started operating during the British India.
An attempt was made earlier in the year 2007 to close the station on the plea of doubling of lines and shortage of space.
But it couldn’t be successful due to strong interference of the then administration and protest by public. The then RDC MS Padhi, Collector LN Nayak and sub collector KC Sahu told railway officials here that the Railways has sufficient lands on both sides which have been encroached by different people as it remained unused for a century.
Upon a fresh decision of the Railways to close it again and issue of a letter under the signature of Sanjaya Mahapatra, Chief Transport and Planning Manager, Eco Railway Bhubaneswar, that the station is closed, people here are preparing for agitation.
“We will never allow it to happen. This is free India and never British India that the Government will take an anti-people decision without consulting the people. We will fight it tooth and nail,” warned president of the Action Committee of lawyers, Pradeep Bahidar.
“Why is the Railways not using its encroached land and modern technology like double tier system as used in other cities of the country including Bhubaneswar,” Bahidar asked.
Sureswar Mishra, Gaurishankar Dash, Jayashankar Mishra, Mahendra Mishra of Nagarika Kalyan Samity, Subash Panigrahi, president of Rail users Forum, Bhupen Sahu of APP, Siddhartha Das of BJD and many others warned the Railways to refrain from such dictatorial decision.