The Railway Budget 2016 presented by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu failed to bring cheers for Chakradharpur, the highest revenue earning railway division in terms of freight in the country. The railway budget turned out to be a major upset particularly for the traders’ community.
Officials of Chottanagpur Passengers Association said that the Union Minister has not given any new trains. The association has been favouring new trains connected new cities but the Ministry has paid no heed to their demands they said.
“We are not very excited with the budget. The budget is discouraging for the Chakradharpur railway division as there were no announcement of new trains and projects. We were expecting much in this year’s budget which has not happened,” said Arun Tiwary, General Sec of Chhotanagpur Passenger Association.
Amid the demands for new trains to Bihar (Darbhanga and Bhagalpur), the Chhotanagpur Passenger Association was hopeful of some budget announcement in the long pending Namkum-Kandra railway line project, which will reduce travel time between Jamshedpur and Ranchi.
“Chakradharpur was not given a single new train. We were expecting introduction of at least some in the division. It is also surprising that there was no mention of the ambitious Kandra-Namkum railway project, which aims at reducing travelling time between Jamshedpur and Ranchi,” said S P Trivedi, an executive member of Chhotanagpur Passenger Association.
The senior functionary of the passenger’s outfit went on to say that their wish for a Jan Shatabdi between Tatanagar and Patna through the shortest route also remained un-fulfilled. “It is really saddening that no new trains have been introduced in the Tata-Patna route for the last three decades. There has been much demand for trains in that particular route as a sizeable number of people from the steel city and other parts of Kolhan travel to Patna during festivals and other occasions,” he pointed out.
The Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) felt disheartened as their long pending demand of a train between Tatanagar and Jaipur, too, has not been met.
“We were pinning hopes that this year Kolhan region will gain from the railway budget unlike last time. We wanted a direct train to Jaipur. It would have benefitted a sizeable number of passengers. Moreover, in our pre-budget suggestion to Suresh Prabhu we had also stressed on increasing the frequency of Tata-Yeshwantpur Express which would have benefitted students, patients and tourists and Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani Express which travels via Tatanagar,” said Vijay Anand Moonka, vice-president of the trade body.