Long haul for residents as no train halts at these railway stations

Long haul for residents as no train halts at these railway stations  
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 28

A railway station where no train stops! Sounds strange but it is a fact that Karam Garh, Sardar Garh and Daula Kotebhai are villages on the Bathinda-Malout rail route, which is facing discriminatory behaviour from the railway authorities.
Karam Garh and Sardar Garh villages were provided with a common railway station, with the name ‘Karam Garh Sardar Garh.’ In the late 60s, the villagers unitedly approached the railway authorities with the request that passenger trains should halt at their village station. Accepting the demand, the railway authorities granted them the facility.
The story was the same at village Daula, located at a distance of four kilometers from Sardar Garh village.
During a visit to these villages, the TNS team found that buildings at the village station (waiting room, ticket counter and office) were in bad shape. The railway time-table and board displaying the name of the station were telling a tale of apathy.
Said Bhupinder Singh, a resident of Karam Garh village, “Earlier, there were two trains on the up and two down route which halted at the station. Later, the authorities concerned totally ignored the villagers and banned the stoppage of trains over here. In this regard, we have met with the higher officials, but did not get any favourable response.”
Harmander Singh of the same village added, “It is not the one village, but two villages Karam Garh and Sardar Garh, that were availing of the facility. But as of now, we have to board a bus or tempo to reach Bathinda or Gidderbaha to catch the train for further journey.”
At Daula Kotebhai, the reaction of the villagers was similar as they discussed their problems resulting from the closure of the station.
Balwant Singh, a ticket vendor at Daula railway station, rued, “The authorities seemed to be looking for an issue to stop the halting of trains here. The basic requirement was to have an income of Rs 2,500 per month, but at that time, we were collecting Rs 6,000. But the authorities then passed the order that a minimum of 40 tickets should be sold every day to allow trains to halt there. When they found that the requirement was not being met, they sealed the station.”
The villagers said the words that labourers working in the villages now have to be dropped at either Bathinda or Gidderbaha railway station, so that they can board trains leaving for their hometowns.
They also informed that they have submitted requests to the railways authorities at Delhi, Ambala and Bathinda many times in this regard. The villagers accused the political leaders of the area with just making verbal promises to console them and doing nothing to meet their demands.
An elderly man at village Daula Kotebhai said, “Everyone knows that the area is cancer-prone. So, the patient who has to go to Bikaner for treatment faces a problem as now no train stops here.”
When contacted, ATM railways, Bathinda, Sher Singh said, “It is the policy of the railway department that the station that does not meet the minimum fixed target, is closed.” He parried queries relating to any plan to revive the status of these stations in the near future.