STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The ARPA (All Assam Rail Passengers' Association) has flayed the decision of the NFR (Northeast Frontier Railway) to hike fares of five 'demu passenger trains'.
The organization's general secretary, Dipankar Sharma told The Sentinel on Saturday, "The Railways had cancelled passenger services during the first wave of the pandemic. Subsequently, the Railways started running some of the long-distance trains. Following public's demand, local trains were also allowed to run in some States.
"In Assam, only a few of the total passenger trains are running. However, the NFR has decided to run five more trains from April 22 and 30 as "demu" express trains. These five express trains will have a hiked fare.
"These trains will run between Dibrugarh and Ledo; Guwahati and Haiborgaon; Guwahati and Silaghat; and, also on the routes of New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati as well as Siliguri-Dhubri-New Bongaigaon. The NFR has just changed the numbers and names of these trains from 'Passenger' to 'Express'. The time schedules, stops, and destinations of these trains are the same as the passenger trains that had run on these routes earlier. What is the need for such a move?"
Sharma further posed, "If trains can run as before in the other States, why can't that be possible in Assam?" and demanded, "The NFR must withdraw this decision immediately."
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