Ajay Raina
JAMMU, Feb 23: There was no sigh of relief for the passengers traveling through trains to various parts of the country from Jammu as inter-State rail services remained affected for the fifth consecutive day today due to Jat stir in Haryana.
However, Northern Railways (NR) continued to run two ‘Special Trains’ to New Delhi from Katra and Jammu for the third repeated day through Saharanpur route.
Official sources told the EXCELSIOR that the inter-State train services remained disrupted for the fifth consecutive day today due to the ongoing protest by Jat Community in various parts of the Haryana for reservation quota.
“There was no sigh of relief for the rail passengers, as all the 12 trains, which were scheduled to leave for New Delhi and had to pass through various parts of Haryana, have been cancelled, due to which around 20,000 passengers have been affected”, sources added.
“The trains including Malwa, Swaraj, Tata Moori, Jammu Mail, Pooja, AC special, Rajdhani, Sampark Kranti, Jhelum, Andoman, Ahmedabad-Katra and Shiv Shakti, which go to New Delhi after passing through various areas of Haryana were cancelled today, which affected around 20,000 passengers, who had to travel through these trains to reach their respective destinations”, sources said.
The trains, which pass through Saharanpur route (Jammu-Ludhiana-Ambala-Saharanpur-Ghaziabad-Delhi), are plying without any disturbance. Today around 11 trains—Bhatinda, Begumpura, Sealdah, Shalimar, Amarnath, Hemkund, Danpur, Anant Vihar and Ahmedabad left for New Delhi via this route.
To provide succor to the stranded passengers, Northern Railways (NR) sent two Special Trains from Jammu and Katra to New Delhi today also.
“One ‘Special Train’ left for Delhi at 2230 hours from Jammu Tawi Railway Station, while another left at around 1930 hours from Katra”, sources said, adding that these ‘Special Trains’ will reach New Delhi via Saharanpur route. Around 3000 passengers, who were stranded at Jammu and Katra Railway Stations traveled through these trains.
Moreover, due to suspension of the train service, the stranded passengers at Jammu Railway Station were facing various hardships in absence of facilities by the Government. The people, who had come for the pilgrimage to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine and were stranded in Katra traveling to Jammu via buses as they were running out of money. After canceling their previous tickets, they traveled to their respective destinations in the trains, which are going to New Delhi via Saharanpur route.
Some of the passengers alleged that the hoteliers started charging heavy amount for the accommodation in Katra due to suspension of trains from Katra to other parts of the country.
“We were told that our train has been cancelled due to the Jats stir in Haryana and now we came to Jammu by bus from Katra. We cancelled our previous tickets and made fresh reservation in the trains plying through Saharanpur route”, said a Shri Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrim hailing from Kolkata.
“We waited in a hotel at Katra for three days with the belief that the train service will resume, but it didn’t. As we were running out of money, we traveled to Jammu by bus and after making fresh reservation in Begumpura Express, we will now be able to reach our home”, said a group of students hailing from a town near Banaras, which visited for pilgrimage to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine at Katra around a week back.
Meanwhile, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims hailing from Madhya Pradesh held protest at Katra Railway Station demanding direct trains to their homes. They raised anti-slogans against the Railway authorities for putting them into trouble by not running the trains direct to Madhya Pradesh.
After getting information, Railway officials rushed to the spot and pacified the protestors. They told the protesting people to reach Jammu and get the train plying through Saharanpur route for their home as regular trains are affected due to the stir by the Jat Community in Haryana.
Later, the protestors dispersed.
However, the sleeper bus services remained partially affected from Jammu and Katra as some of the buses, which were sent are entering New Delhi from Uttar Pradesh by running around 300 kilometers extra.
DK Gautam, Director, Jammu Airport said that one Air India (AI) flight arrived at Satwari Airport today. He added that 145 passengers were flown in this flight to New Delhi, who were stranded in Jammu due to Jat community stir in Haryana.
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