Srirampur people, the worst sufferer of poor railway service

GOSSAIGAON, Jan 18 : The rail passengers of greater Srirampur area under Gossaigaon subdivision in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Kokrajhar have been facing a serious inconvenience in travelling to the other parts of the region from Srirampur, the last western-most railway station of Asom for quite sometime, since many train do not halt at Srirampur railway station.

Following the inadequate train facilities, the people of the area in general and the regular rail passengers in particular form remote villages like— Garumara Char, Sagun Char, Baghdokra, Belpara, Kamandanga, Chotoguma, Hatidhura, Basantipur, Grahampur, Failaguri, Kukuadanga, Kacharigaon, Jacobpur, Ransupur, Shyamaguri, Srirampur 1, Khayarghutu, Shimultapu Block, Shimultapu-II in the south and Shimultapu -I, Shimaltapu PBR, Jaraguri, Bajugaon, Gokul Kata, Maktaigaon, Goladangi, Howriapet, Burichatam, Bhomrabil I & II, Dawaguri Hashrawbari, Sapkata, Matiajuri, Haraputa and others in the north have been undergoing untold sufferings.
The trouble has compelled the travellers to form Greater Srirampur Area Communication Development Committee with John Kisker and Bahavananda Poddar as its president and secretary respectively.

It may be mentioned here that to ensure the stoppage of some more passenger trains as well as goods carrier trains at Srirampur railway station, the travellers of the area had submitted memorandum to the concerned authority, through the communication development committee earlier, but only in vain.

The Srirampur Railway Station, being the last and western-most railway station has the importance of its own. But, the people of the area have received the step-motherly treatment from the concerned authority with the stoppage of only two passenger trains. For example, the people of the area if wish to make their journey to Guwahati could avail only Shifung, the passenger train, which leaves Srirampur at 4 pm. The travellers coming from remote villages could hardly avail it in time. Once they miss the train, they have either to cancel their tour or to travel to Alipurduar (WB) or Bongaigaon by bus for boarding alternative trains. On the other hand, the Shifung which runs from Alipurduar to Guwahati with the stoppages at almost all the stations takes 7 to 8 hours in reaching Guwahati. As a result of which the travellers could not make themselves punctual towards their work and have to stay there for the whole day.

Again, the down BG passenger train which runs from New Bongaigaon to New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal leaves Srirampur railway station at around 9 am, and missing of which, the travellers have no alternative train to make their journey. Besides, people who wish to make a long journey to distant places like Siliguri, Kolkata, Delhi and other places in down train from Srirampur, have either to go to Alipurduar or Coochbehar in West Bengal or to Bongaigaon by bus. In this way the travellers have been suffering from the poor railway services since long.

It would have been convenient for the travellers to make their journey to Guwahati if the Inter-city Express which presently runs between Alipurduar and Guwahati and a down mail train had their stoppage at Srirampur Railway Station.