Kolkata: Senior Congress leader and former Union MoS Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday wrote to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw demanding toilet facilities in nine EMU–MEMU trains running between Sealdah in Kolkata and Lalgola in Murshidabad district stations.
The former Berhampore MP termed the absence of such basic amenities as “inhuman” and urged the Railway Minister to take immediate steps in the interest of lakhs of daily passengers, especially from backward districts like Murshidabad.
In his letter to the Railway Minister, Chowdhury said: “I do like to flag your attention into the tremendous inconveniences of the railway passengers in the Sealdah division who are being deprived from their basic needs of wash room (toilet) facilities while traveling the local trains namely Sealdah-Lalgola, Kolkata-Lalgola and Ranaghat-Lalgola covering 250 kilometres at a stretch between the distance of Kolkata and Lalgola.”
He further said the district Murshidabad is regarded as one of the backward districts in the country. He informed that common people of the concerned district always avail those 9 local trains including EMU or MEMU bereft of toilet facilities and are taking the journey without knowing as to how the call of the nature could be responded.
“In a civilised society like India when the government itself has been campaigning and conducting awareness programme for Swatchh Bharat, don’t you think that it is an egregious act of inhumanity being pursued by the august railway organization unmindful of the minimum amenities that are deserved to them (passengers) as they are availing your services at the cost of hard earned penny,” he wrote.
Chowdhury concluded by saying: “I do deem you as a sensitive Minister who could easily understand the grinding problem of those lakhs of passengers and take the scientific-measures given the nature of the railway passengers.”
The Kolkata-Sealdah-Lalgola route is a key railway line connecting the Sealdah station to Lalgola, passing through a number of intermediate stations on the Sealdah Main Line. Passenger as well as Express trains operate on this route — considered a significant one as it forms a long trunk route of the Kolkata Suburban Railway network, and provides connectivity to Lalgola and its surrounding areas
(IANS)
