Mamata lashes out against Railways over stalling of train services
19 Jan 2018 5:30 PM GMT
Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday lashed out at the Indian Railway's proposal of stopping train services on as many as eight lines, which they claim to be commercially unviable.
It may be mentioned that the Eastern Railway has written to state Chief Secretary Malay De informing him about the losses and that the state government should share the burden of the loss borne by the ER in these routes. The routes where the Railways are proposing to stall services include Sonarpur – Canning, Baruipur- Namkhana, Kalyani- Kalyani Simanta, Burdwan- Katwa, Bhimgarh- Palashkhali, Burdwan- Katwa, Ballygunge Budge Budge , Barasat- Hasnabad and Santipur – Nabadwipghat.
"This is again a step-motherly attitude from the Centre's part. It is a disrespect for the state. We will not tolerate this attitude of the Centre," Banerjee told reporters at the State Secretariat Nabanna.
It may be mentioned that train services in these routes started when Banerjee was the Railway minister. "This is a political vendetta. We will not accept this decision," she reiterated.
"We have to pay around Rs 50 crore to the Centre as debt every year. Now, they are asking us to cough up 50 percent to compensate the loss that they are incurring in these routes. We will strongly object to this," she said.
The Railways have sought an early reply from the state government in this regard. However, the state government feels that passengers in all these routes are large in number and will face great inconvenience.
"This is a blot from the blue. We are demanding at least two extra trains as some of the trains are so crammed that it becomes difficult to travel and amidst this, the Centre claims they will stop services," a daily passenger said.
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