KOCHI: Accusing the Railways of meting out ‘step-motherly’ treatment to Kerala, a passengers’ association has decided to intensify its ongoing agitation for the restoration of services and facilities that were curbed during the pandemic waves. Friends on Rails launched demonstrations at railway stations across Kerala on April 25, highlighting the woes of commuters who had been hit by the suspension of services.
Though the Railways reinstated the number of general coaches in some of the express trains after much hue and cry, the association said it was in no mood to relent as passenger train services were yet to be fully restored. Association members said they would be holding dharnas in front of the divisional railway manager’s offices in Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram this week.
“Thousands of people, especially the daily commuters, depend on the Railways to reach their destinations,” said Friends on Rail secretary Lyons J. “And, in Kerala, which doesn’t have suburban services like in cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, thousands of office-goers depend on the passenger and MEMU trains. The Railways had canceled many passenger services and nearly all MEMUs.”
The authorities were citing a shortage of loco-pilots as the reason for not restoring services, noted Lyons. “The fact that the Railways did not carry out a recruitment drive pointed to the lack of interest in resuming services,” he said, adding that Kerala had been facing bias for a long.
“While the Railways dilly-dallies on resuming the passenger services, many rakes are rusting in the yards. As such the rakes that Kerala receives are the ones discarded by Tamil Nadu,” Lyons alleged.
Members of Friends on Rails said they would demand the restoration of concession for senior citizens and other facilities, too.