Daily Pioneer reports
Despite the very presence of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL)-run steel plant, this steel city is allegedly being neglected by the Indian Railways even though it earns huge revenue from here.
For years together, the railway authorities have been urged to run more trains via Rourkela to Delhi, but to no avail while the only train, the Kalinga Utkal Express (Puri-Haridwar), passing through the city here, has been terminated since June 1 this year on the pretext of growing Maoist menace following which the locals are forced to go either to Jharsuguda or Tatanagar to board a train to Delhi.
In the wee hours of May 28, the Maoists had blown up the Gyaneswari Express in between Kharagpur-Tatanagar near Jhargram causing over 60 casualties. Since then, the South Eastern Railways (SER) has terminated running of trains in the night hours on this route and has rescheduled the timing of many trains. Surprisingly, the railway authorities also changed the route of the Kalinga Utkal Express, the only direct train to Delhi for the Rourkelites, and thenceforth, the people here have to go to Tatanagar or Jharsuguda to board a train to Delhi.
The people wonder as to why the railway authorities changed the route of the train when they could have easily rescheduled its timings as they did with the other trains. Moreover, if there is a security problem, the Kalinga-Utkal Express could start from Tatanagar or Rourkela early in the morning as there are already other trains from Puri and Bhubaneswar to Delhi in the same morning hours. The railway authorities instead mindlessly diverted its route via Angul, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda, which is a great injustice to the Steel City, the aggrieved locals view.
Even a number of trains, running to Howrah via Rourkela, have also been terminated to run after 9 pm since then following which many trains are forced to stay stranded full night at the station here and the passengers have a harrowing experience as the markets here get closed by 9 pm.
When contacted, Station Manager GB Mohapatra said, all decisions are taken at the Garden Rich and they are just to carry them out.
Considering the difficulties of the passengers, who are to board for Delhi, a passenger train has been introduced from Rourkela to Jharsuguda to catch the Utkal Kalinga Express on a stop-gap arrangement, Mohapatra informed. He also admitted that despite the stop-gap arrangement, it is difficult for the aged and passengers having more luggage.
Regarding the difficulties of the stranded train passengers he said, it was in the beginning and in course of time the timings have been arranged in such a way that the trains will not to get stranded here.
About the probability of the normal running of trains he said, the only information available with him is that for the 36th time, the termination of the night-running trains has been extended till December 16.
The Road and Rail Users’ Committee (RRUC) president Amulya Baral alleged, it is all due to the conspiracy of the railway authorities and lack of will of the political parties, the people are suffering.
Need to be mentioned that, the leaders and their supporters from both the BJD and Congress parties had turned the railway station here into a war field in a bid to take the credit for the introduction of new trains on February 13 and March 31 this year when the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar and Rourkela-Koraput Intercity Expresses were flagged off from here respectively. However, the same political leaders prefer to keep mum against the apathetic attitude of the railway authorities.
On the other hand, the irate Gurudwar Sri Guru Singh Sabha has called for a rail roko on December16 here to register their protest.
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