Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Aug 30: The continued suspension of train services in Kashmir is denting revenue of railways badly as it is continuously mounting due to ongoing unrest in Valley.
The railways in Kashmir thrive on the sale of tickets which have also been stopped owing to the unrest triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander commander Burhan Wani and his associates on July 8.
Officials said that except one day of the week, 15 pairs of train ferry nearly thirty thousand commuters mostly students and Government employees between Banihal to Baramulla. But the ongoing unrest has put all the services to halt thereby further worsening the income of already expensive railway services of Kashmir.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Northern Railways, Neeraj Sharma, said the train service on 137-kilometer long rail line is suspended since July 9 after widespread protests and violence raged across Kashmir. He said that there are reports that mob attacked the rail installations at several places in South Kashmir – from where deadly violence originated – and to avoid any untoward incident the service was suspended.
The angry protesters attacked the railway installations at several places in South Kashmir including at Panjgam, Malangpora, Pampore and Hillar. The protesters at Kakapora attempted twice to set ablaze the local station but the paramilitary personnel deployed there foiled the attempts by using force against them.
“On an average, we have Rs 3 lakh earning daily. That means we have suffered nearly rupees one and a half crore,” the PRO said. However, he said, the losses suffered due to crowd attacks are yet to be ascertained.
“We are mostly cut off from our men because of communication breakdown in Valley. Also, we have not been able to reach those places where attacks took place. In this regard, we haven’t conducted any survey, so it would not be feasible to comment over this right now,” he added.
Contrary to South, the railway installations in Central and North Kashmir districts including Budgam and Baramulla were not attacked by protesters, said police officials. “Despite violence in these districts, the protesters didn’t attack rail installations unlike Southern Kashmir,” they added. The Nowgam railway station in Srinagar district jurisdiction has, so far, been safe from any crowd attack as it is located far away from residential neighbourhoods.
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