The Center will resume rail services in Punjab only when blockades along the railroad tracks are cleared, rail board chairman and chief executive VK Yadav said Thursday, adding that the state government has ensured that all locks will be removed on Friday.
As of Thursday night, 14 of the 32 blockades had been removed, Yadav said. A joint team of state government officials and the director general of the Rail Protection Force were reviewing the situation in the state, he said.
“The government of Punjab has assured us that all blockades will be lifted on Friday morning. 14 of 32 locks were removed on Thursday. We will resume all train services once the tracks are back under our control, ”Yadav told a press conference.
“We (the Ministry of Railways) only have two conditions for the state government; security should not be compromised and locks should be removed. Our maintenance teams are ready, as soon as the tracks are under rail control, we will run the trains, “he added.
Trains have been suspended in the state since Sept. 24 due to agitation over farm bills passed by the Center during the monsoon session of parliament.
The state also faces a critical shortage of coal reserves at power plants, leading to massive power outages due to the prolonged suspension of freight trains by the railroads.
Amid the dispute between the Center and the state government to allow the passage of trains in the state, Indian Railways has claimed losses of almost Rs1,200 crore in transportation revenue with more than 2,225 suspended freight trains and 1,350 passenger trains canceled or diverted.
According to data from the railways, almost 70 trains are affected per day, in total 1,373 passenger trains have had to be canceled or diverted, resulting in losses of Rs 45 million.
Hours earlier, the Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal, met with a delegation of deputies from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Punjab seeking their intervention to resume train services. In a letter to Goyal on behalf of the group, Ashwani Sharma, chairman of the Punjab state BJP, alleged that the state is literally “under siege” from the state government that is playing politics. HT has reviewed the letter.
According to the Center, all inbound and outbound freight transport, including commodities, has been negatively affected in the northern states and in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh.
“The minister assured [Punjab MPs] that Railways was ready to resume train service operations as soon as the state government ensures that the trains are completely safe to run / operate and the tracks are completely clear. Safety in the operation of trains is of the utmost importance. In addition, he informed the parliamentarians that the officials of the Railroad Board have contacted state government officials to seek early cleaning of the tracks and that they will continue to do the same, ”the ministry said in a statement.
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