Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine is emerging as the most popular shrine in Northern India to which the number of people making annual pilgrimage has crossed ten million. Though the shrine is located in the Trikuta Hills in a far off northern nook of the country, yet pilgrims come from all the four corners of the country and from farthest places to pay obeisance at the holy shrine. It is not that easy to handle such a large number of pilgrims with efficiency and competence. Development of Katra, the last town from where uphill pilgrimage begins, was bound to witness phenomenal physical change when the holy shrine became a house-hold word with the people in the country. It goes to the credit of the Shrine Board, the State Government and the Railway Minister to have decided to extend the rail link from Jammu to Udhampur and then to Katra. Once the link was established the number of pilgrims increased manifold.
Keeping in mind that the number of pilgrims will be increasing year after year, the Railway Minister has taken the right decision of increasing rail connectivity to Katra so that people coming from any part of the country can easily arrive in Katra, the last stop for visit to the holy shrine. Through remote control in Rail Brawn in New Delhi, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off the Central-Jammu Tawi Andaman Express train up to Katra, which was so far plying only up to Jammu. The Minister said that Mata Vaishno Devi was the most popular shrine and his ministry wanted that it should be connected by railway to all parts of the country. That was the purpose of announcing extension of 12 more trains from Jammu/Udhampur to Katra.
While flagging off the Central Jammu Tawi Andaman Express train to Katra, the Minister for Railways said that his ministry has plans for extension of rail services in J&K on a larger scale. He wants to boost not only pilgrimage to holy shrine but also tourism and employment prospects in the entire State. More trains will be provided on Baramulla-Banihal section of Kashmir and completion of Katra-Banihal sector will happen shortly. Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Railways had recently met in Srinagar and its next meeting is going to be held in Jammu which will review the progress of various railway projects. He reiterated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been emphasizing the need to give priority to the development activities in Jammu and Kashmir. .It is learnt that the Railways Ministry also proposed to run more DMUs to Katra from Jammu, Pathankot and Jalandhar to cater to the rush of pilgrims.
It is heartening to know that Modi Government is showing keen interest in laying a network of railways in our State. The Jammu-Srinagar direct rail link now underway for many years is likely to be completed in next two years. Once completed and made serviceable, it will be a marvel of engineering rarely found elsewhere in the world. Economic fallout of this rail link will be immense and the entire economy of J&K State will witness sea change.
Now that the State is very much on the railway map of the country, and there is great realization at Governmental level about the need of extending rail and road links to the borders of the State in view of strategy and security, we would suggest the Railway Ministry to focus on two extended links of J&K railway network. One is the rail link between Jammu and Poonch in view of strategic importance of Poonch and Rajouri as border districts and as such movement of troops is a regular feature of this segment. Second is the internal link within the valley meaning extension of railway from Baramulla to Lolab Valley and from Srinagar to Leh? All the three links are of vital importance to the security of the country and economic development of the region. It has to be reminded that the railways had the proposal of Jammu-Poonch link before it and even survey of the track was also conducted but then during UPA Government, the proposal was shelved for unknown reasons. It has to be revived. We would also like to bring to the notice of the Railway Minister that there is urgent need of improving, expanding and streamlining Jammu railway station. It has the potential to become one of the most beautiful railway stations in the country. But at present, it is the ugliest and the most neglected station with totally dismal environments. Other railway stations like Udhampur and Kathua also need to be expanded.
In final analysis, we are hopeful that the golden era of rail and road connectivity has dawned upon the landlocked State of Jammu and Kashmir. Hundreds of years of isolation of the Kashmir and Ladakh regions will be over and life will take a new shape in years to come.
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