Jharkhand’s long-standing demand for better Railway connectivity to other parts of the country is likely to be fulfilled soon as Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Sunday promised to increase train services from the State.
While inaugurating Astro-Turf Hockey Stadium at Hatia and flagging off new train, the Union Minister assured to enhance train services to Vellore and Jaipur by increasing weekly services of Ranchi-Trivandrum Express, Hatia-Yashwantpur Express and extending the route of Purshottam Express up to Jaipur. The Purshottam Express presently runs from New Delhi to Puri via Jamshedpur. Moreover, the Railway Minister is looking over the boarding provision from Tatanagar in Howrah-Pune Express.
Presently, Hatia-Yashwantpur runs once a week while Ranchi-Trivandrum runs thrice a week. Chief Minister Raghubar Das had earlier on the occasion requested Suresh Prabhu to increase the run of both the trains to five days a week for the convenience of passengers and patients travelling to Vellore. Besides, these trains, Prabhu also assured the CM to look into the merit of the demand to increase frequency of services of Ranchi-Dehradun Express, Hatia-Ranchi-Mumbai Superfast and Hatia-Ara-Baxar Express.
Talking about transportation of minerals from the State, the Union Minister said, “We want to enhance supply of minerals from Jharkhand and increase the GDP and scope of employment in the state and well as of the country.” Significantly, a joint venture company between Jharkhand Government and Ministry of Railway is on cards for monitoring projects and coordinating activities between the two parties. It will have a Board of Directors and nodal officer to be named by the Jharkhand Government. The Railway Ministry will ink similar pacts with 20 other States beginning from Jharkhand.
A Nodal Officer will soon be nominated for building overbridges at road crossings in the State and the CM suggested the Road Transport Secretary for the purpose.
The company would form a special-purpose-vehicle to look into modernisation programmes of various passenger related infrastructures. Development of Ranchi into a model station through private-public-partnership mode is also among the agenda of Railways
“We want to focus on network expansion in Jharkhand. It is possible only if the Centre and State work like a company. The MoU signed earlier between Coal India and Railway Ministry in Jharkhand will help in fulfilling the plan as the State will get benefits of the agreement,” added the Railway Minister.
Moreover the CM used the occasion to flag stuck railway projects and related MoUs singed for the purpose. “Even after years only line connectivity between Deoghar-Dumka-Rampurhat has been completed. The Koderma-Hazaribagh line construction up to Barkagaon and then up to Ranchi is pending. The Railway Minister has assured to complete it soon,” added the CM.
later talking to mediapersons, Prabhu highlighted the passenger amenities in the recent Rail Budget passed in January. He said coaches were being designed by National Institute of Design Ahmedabad to make it accident-proof like Mercedes Car. Around 16,000 coaches with bio-toilets and Wi-Fi facilities from AC-1 to sleeper class etc are being designed, he added.
The Railway Minister also highlighted on e-catering facilities started in trains wherein passengers can online order for food items not available in pantry car menu and get it during the train journey. The Ministry will make a Base Kitchen in each division so that passengers can avail fresh food in a distance of every two hours. The concept of paperless ticket through IRCTC portal started in Mumbai is likely to be extended to other places also.
Meanwhile, Prabhu put the blame on previous regimes for inertia in Railway projects in Jharkhand and asserted on rectifying the mistakes made by those. The Railway Minister expressed that the Central Government was focused on the development of Jharkhand which got highlighted by the increasing budgetary allocation in the tune of Rs 6,038-crore under various heads for the State.
“New projects were launched and older projects were forgotten. Projects could not be completed because there was no roadmap for five years and no money was provided for the project. We drafted a budget for one-year but its perspective is of five-years. We did not make any new announcements and instead shifted our attention to existing projects with emphasis on those projects which can bring us timely and additional benefits,” pointed out Prabhu.
Incidentally, Prabhu encouraged reporting of corrupt practices of Railway officials and requested people to use ‘WhatsApp’ to expose malaise that tarnishes image of Railways and causes inconvenience to passengers posed by ticket touts.