E-Paper
Chhapra set to be final halt for Ganga Kaveri Express
The Ganga Kaveri Express running between Varanasi and Chennai, is all set to get extended up to Chhapra in Bihar shortly. The North Eastern Railway has started all the necessary preparations for this purpose.
The Ganga Kaveri Express running between Varanasi and Chennai, is all set to get extended up to Chhapra in Bihar shortly. The North Eastern Railway has started all the necessary preparations for this purpose.
By taking this step. the railway ministry has sidetracked thousands of South Indian tourists flocking to the holy city every year. This extension in essence would mean reduction in quota of South Indian tourists both in the sleeper and air-conditioned coaches. This quota will now be split for the passengers boarding the train from Chhapra.
With the indication of Railway Board for the extension of this train to Chapra, the local south Indians had protested the proposal. They even sat on a dharna at the railway station here to mount pressure on the railway minister, Laloo Yadav to roll back the decision but to no effect.
DRM for the North Eastern Railway (NER), Shailendra Tripathi said that he has not got any official communique from the Railway Board in this connection. He confirmed that all the preparations have been ensured from Varanasi to Chhapra for the running and maintenance of the train whenever they get the go ahead.
The station manager of Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station, RS Dubey also said that he has also not got any instruction from the Railway Board to the contrary.
Ironically, the Railway Board had introduced this train around two decades back from the Varanasi Cantonment railway station for the benefit of the South Indian tourists. At the time of flagging off the train, the then railway minister and a resident of Karnataka, Jafar Sharif had said that this train would be very convenient for the South Indian tourists, willing to travel to holy city of Varanasi.
However, it seems Ganga Kaveri has become the latest addition to the Bihar kitty. During the last one and half decade, several trains originating from Varanasi to different long routes destinations in the country, have been pulled to different stations as originating points by the Bihar based several railway ministers like George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar and current Laloo Yadav, reducing the reservation quota of local passengers of Varanasi.
