The CITU Tripura State Committee once again raised its finger on the railway services in the state.
Shankar Prasad Dutta, general secretary of the Tripura State Committee of the CITU, held a press conference at the state office of the CITU on Friday and claimed that the state’s rail service has been reached at the bottom line.
He said there is a lot of lacking in rail services.
“Agartala railway station authorities have been informed about this. Agartala railway station authorities were told on Thursday that there is an acute shortage of drinking water among express and demo trains running from the state. Restrooms are unusable. And can’t stand in the train compartment ad so much stench emanates from the railway toilet. Therefore the officer in charge has been asked to take appropriate action” said Dutta.
“Because people travel by rail by spending money. It has also been informed that express trains with very old coaches are running from Agartala to different states of the country. There is not enough service in these compartments” he said.
He quipped that all the old railway coaches looked like they are sent for Tripura.
The delegation demanded to change the bogies to improve the quality.
He further said that hawkers are not allowed in the train. But the hawkers earn for their livelihood by selling various food items to the railway passengers. Since they are haggling over the approval of the Ministry of Railways, they are demanding to be given a chance. Besides, there has been a demand to increase the number of trains for the convenience of passengers.
Besides, it was asked why the demo rail service that was supposed to be started from Agartala to Sabroom has not started yet? The official told that this demo train will be launched from August 29, Shankar Prasad Dutta said in the press conference.
There was a discussion about rail services at Akhaura border. Dutta said that the official said that the railway from Nishchintpur to Akhaura will be started this year. But there is no possibility of starting the train from Agartala this year. It has also been demanded that railway ticket counters should be increased, Shankar Prasad Dutt said.
Many people cannot travel by train if one counter serves hundreds of passengers. Dutta also said that the we will approach to the Chief Minister of the state on August 30 with 16 point demands. Puja bonus to tea workers will be demanded at the rate of 20 percent. Apart from this, our demand will be to pay the pension immediately to those who have not received social pension for the last four months.
Panchli Bhattacharya and other leaders were also present in the press conference organized on this day.
