Excelsior Correspondent
REASI, May 27: Residents of village Kauri in Reasi district, the home to world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab, are up in arms in support of their demand for a railway station to safeguard the future of their coming generations after parting away their land for the project.
Seeking personal intervention of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, they claimed that at the start of work on the bridge about 20 years ago, they were promised of railway station in their area to cater to the heavy rush of prospective tourists to the iconic bridge, which is nearing completion but the railway station is nowhere in sight.
“We are feeling deceived as the dream shown to us to uplift our economy and secure the future of our children seems not being fulfilled,” said a local, claiming that the railway officials had abandoned the plan to have a station near the notable bridge, citing “some technical issues.”
The villagers explained that many people gave up their land for the project with a hope for a better future. “We are rendered unemployed and the future of our children also looks bleak,” said Angrez Singh.
The protesting villagers threatened that without railway station, they will not allow the train to cross the bridge. “We will sit on the track and let them pass the train over our bodies,” said Rajinder Singh, a retired Captain.
Stating that they have already submitted memorandums in support of their demand to higher authorities many times, Panch Om Prakash said it was very unfortunate that nobody in the Government was listening to the residents of Kauri.
“If our demand is not met, we will boycott the coming elections to convey our resentment. The lack of a railway station in Kauri will have a negative impact on five lakh people,” he said.
The under-construction 111-km Katra-Banihal section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link is likely to be made operational early next year to connect Kashmir with the rest of the country by train and 1.3 km Chenab rail bridge at Kauri forms a crucial link in the Katra-Banihal stretch.
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