RailEnquiry

Jammu : Buoyed over the proposal forwarded by Union Health Ministry to start a direct train between Jammu and Chandigarh to provide relief to PGI-bound patients, the Jammu and Kashmir Dogra Sabha, Chandigarh, has decided to aggressively pursue the matter to get the proposal approved. The Jammu and Kashmir Dogra Sabha is a Chandigarh-based organisation of J-K residents living in Chandigarh.“We had already taken up the matter with Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal a week ago but interest showed by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has encouraged us”, Kuldeep Singh, president of the Sabha, told The Tribune over the phone from Chandigarh. Singh said the Sabha had also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in this regard.“We will again meet Union Railway Minister so that this proposal is incorporated in the Railway Budget”, he said.He added that the Sabha had been pursuing this matter for the past seven years because PGI-bound patients from Jammu and Kashmir had been facing a lot of hardships due to non-availability of direct train service. Singh, who is a faculty member of the Chandigarh Judicial Academy, recalled that former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had assured to start the train service but the proposal could not materialise. “This time we are hopeful that Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal would seriously consider our demand,” Singh said. — TNS