Farmers Movement Archive

No train connectivity, pvt bus operators earning big bucks

Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 6 As the train connectivity stands snapped for the last over two months, private transporters running their buses between Amritsar-Chandigarh and Amritsar-Delhi, have been raking in the moolah out of it. Even as the railways is going to operate Shatabdi between Chandigarh and Delhi, there is no such move from the Amritsar railway station due to the rail blockade being enforced by the activists of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) at Jandiala Guru railway station, about 10 km from Amritsar. The two Shatabdi trains being run between Amritsar and Delhi continue to remain cancelled. Barring arrival and departure of two trains, four goods trains are arriving in the district, that too, via a diverted route from Beas, Tarn Taran and Bhagtanwala to Amritsar railway station. No other train is being plied from the local railway station. A large number of trains used to have a stopover in Delhi. Even then, the demand used to be very high. So, private buses used to cater those passengers who could not secure a ticket in them. Since, the entire crowd has shifted to private buses, bus operators are selling tickets at Rs1,000 per passenger, which used to be close to Rs 600 during normal days. Bus operators stated that the number of passengers came down relatively after the resumption of trains from other stations of the state. So, local passengers have started boarding trains from Ambala and other railway stations. Earlier, a Shatabdi train used to depart at 5:10 am and another at 4:55 pm. Similarly, a Shatabdi used to arrive at 1:25 pm and another at 10:30 pm.

The Tribune

2020-12-07