MINUTES of the 3Rd MEETING of 5TH ZRUCC/EAST COAST RAILWAY HELD on 19.11.2012 at SABHA

MINUTES OF THE 3rd MEETING OF 5TH ZRUCC/EAST COAST RAILWAY HELD ON 19.11.2012 AT SABHA GRIHA/RAIL SADAN, BHUBANESWAR

PRESENT:

ZRUCC Members Present

Railway Officers Present

The 3rd meeting of 5thZRUCC , East Coast Railway was held on 19-11-12 at 11.00 hrs.in the Sabhagriha, Rail Sadan.ShriIndraGhosh, General Manager, ECoR and Chairman/ ZRUCC presided over the meeting.

The meeting started with the welcome address by Secretary to GM and he extended a warm welcome to the Hon’ble Chairman/ZRUCC(GM/ECoR) and all the esteemed members of ZRUCC and other Officials present on the occasion.He also requested all the members and officers to give their self-introduction, as there were certain new members and subsequently invited Chairman/ZRUCC to address on the occasion.

At the outset, GM and Chairman/ZRUCC clarified that there was a slight change in the format and unlike the earlier one, where agenda and remarks thereto were used to be shown in the form of powerpoint presentation, this time, the same had been dispensed with due to request of some of members. He further added that since agenda of some of members were received late, the same could not be included. However, in the process of discussion , members were advised to bring forth any new items or keep their suggestions as they deem fit during the discussion and then he invited Hon’ble MPs to start with their items. Thereafter, Sr. Deputy General Manager started the proceeding and he invited Hon’ble MP Sri RenubalaPradhan to present her items:

Hon’ble M.P, Ms. RenubalaPradhan : She indicatedted that on her last time agenda items like introduction of implementation of ramps at Berhampur and trolley system at Puri station, she had not received any satisfactory replies and urged on early implementation of such things. She insisted on raising frequency of the train namely Visakhpatnam- Amritsar express from three days to daily. She further enquired about the introduction of new train from Koraput to Puri and urged that at least one coach be attached in the Hirakhand express exclusively for Puri, so that people of Koraput would be benefitted. She also enquired about status of the survey report from Berhampur to Phulbani via Aska and She urged to provide washing facility and provide requisite infrastructure at Berhampur , so that some new trains could start from Berhampur itself.

She was also critical about the quality of bedroll system as being supplied in the train as compared to that of other parts of Railway and she was of the opinion that many times ,wet bedrolls were used to be supplied to passengers. She further added that capacity of godown built at Jagannathpur might be enhanced to meet the growing demand and also to save fertilizers and this might be possible as adequate land was available .

Hon’ble M.P. Sri BhatruhariMahatab: In his address, he regrettedfor not submitting his agenda items in time, though one month notice was given for submission . He also expressed thanks for GM and Chairman/ZRUCC’s recent visit to Cuttack and hoped that he might have come across those items raised by him on development of Cuttack station in the last meeting and especially urged on functioning of 2nd opening of Cuttack station. He also indicated that Railway had already deposited certain amount with District administration for land acquisition of some portion of land for facilitating such opening 2nd opening of Cuttack station and advised Railway Administration to pursue the matter further to ensure that development of Cuttack station is taken place to a reasonable level.

He further added that he had written a letter to DRM on the issue of closure of an unmanned level crossing near Cuttack based on the representation from some section of people of Tangi and Chaudwar block and requested to take up the matter with Divisional authorities to address the issue as because the unmanned level crossing was used basically for easement of farmers during harvesting season. Quoting earlier instances, he also suggested that DRMs should participate in the ZRUCC, as it would be helpful in sorting out various issues, though DRUCC meetings were being held at Division level .

He also laid stress upon early completion of the 2nd line from Barang to Cuttack. There should be link road between Dhakulei and Kanpur in the form of Road Under Bridge between National 5 and between State Highway running between Baranga and Trishulia. He indicated that he had already discussed the issue with RVNL authorities and requested to pursue the matter at appropriate level.Healso enquired about the status of Rail wagon factory at Seetalapalli nearChhatrapur and the other one at Kalahandi.

He further raised the issue of development of Naraj-Marthapur station as the main Railway station for West Cuttack and urged to have a passenger halt at Ghantikhal , which is located at the other side of the river.

Hon’ble MLA ShriAnanta Das: He indicated thatin his agenda items, he had raised certain issues relating to the development of JajpurKeonjhar Road station, quoting the items raised by Hon’ble MLA ShriPritiranjanGhadai , but no proper replies had been given to that effect. It was clarified that the issues raised by Hon’ble MLA in his letter had since been replied and it might not be proper to refer the letter of Hon’ble MLA’s letter and discussion carried out on those items in this meeting. However, it was indicated that the concern of Hon’ble MLAShri Das was well noted and replies on these items would be provided separately in writing.

He also enquired about the facilities as being provided in the case of Bhadrak station. It was indicated that in the booklet that all the facilities usually extended to an ‘A” class station like Bhadrak had been listed out in the given booklet.

Shri K. Rabindra ,Member ZRUCC: He expressed his satisfaction over the fact that his agenda items have been positively responded. However, he raised the issue of opening of Bondapalli station, which had been estimated to cost of Rs. 25 lakhs on a cost sharing arrangement, where 40% of cost would be supplemented by the local Public including the Hon’ble MP of that locality.

He also raised the issue of lack of drinking water facility at Cheepurpalle Rly. Station, and also urged upon giving an additional staff to Cheepurpalle booking counter.He further added that at Nellimarla, there were certain abandoned Railway quarters, in or around the station which had become a place of gambling in day time and a safe haven for thieves at night times and thus causing inconvenience to General Public at large. He requested for converting these area as a park by way of dismantling these abandoned quarters and for the purpose, they were prepared to mobilise resources from general public as well as from MPLAD fund.

Shri S.K. Ray, Member ZRUCC :He raised the issue of development of Talcher Road station by way of providing Foot Over Brodge, High level platform, Platform shelter covering the entire train length. He indicated that in the absence of these basic amenities, passengers especially elderly passengers and children were facing a lot of problems.

ShriP.K.Pradhan, Member ZRUCC: He raised the issues like augmentation of AC coaches in the Utkal Express to meet the requirements of Rourkela people, provision of additional coaches in the Rourkela Intercity express and also raised his concern on the quality of bedrolls as being provided in the train.

Shri B.K. Routray, Member ZRUCC :Hementioned that Bhubaneswar station was getting overcrowded and there was a need for additional platforms and an additional railway line between Baranga and Khurda to ease the growing congestion. He also raised the issue of developing Bhubaneswar station as a world class station as envisaged earlier and requested to pursue the matter with Railway Board. He added that passenger amenities as being provided in the Bhubaneswar station should be upgraded and minimum facilities be extended at Bhubaneswar Railway station. He also suggested that the size passes/coupons as being issued to journalists should be reduced to a reasonable extent and also requested to keep some EQ quota earmarked in favour of journalists.

Shri K.K. Das, Member ZRUCC : He requested for upgradation of Mancheswar Railway station in order to offload pressures from Bhubaneswar station and also to meet the growing requirments of people living in or around Mancheswar. He also raised the issue of receiving request for EQ quota through telephone. But it was clarified that no request for release of EQ quota would be received over telephone and the same might be sent through Fax.

ShriAnata, MemberZRUCC : He welcomed all the present dignitaries and indicated that Cheepurpalle station in the Vizainagaram District is an important station and insisted on the construction of Foot Over Bridge at Cheepurpalle station to avoid several accidents as taking place for the fact that people are forced to cross over the train to reach at the station . He requested for stoppage of two more express trains namelyKonark express and Falaknama express trains at Cheepurpalle station, as several business people are travelling from Cheepurpalle.

ShriSamaresh Ku. Nanda ,Member ZRUCC : He raised the issue of restoration of Emergency Quota(EQ) for KUR Division. However, it was clarified that as per the system, in case the zonal HQ was situated nearby a particular Divisional HQ, the EQ provision were used to be kept at Zonal HQ . Accordingly, after the setting up in ECoR , the EQ was transferred to HQ in consistent with the system prevalentover Indian Railway.

ShriJasbir Singh Hura, Member ZRUCC :He expressed his thanks to Railway administration for organizing ZRUCC meeting three times in a year, which was rare feat to be seen during his last 25 years membership.During the discussion, he raised his concern of poor quality of bedroll systemas being provided in the AC coaches and in particular, he mentioned about the bedroll last supplied in the Tapaswini Express. Besides, he urged upon to regulate rush in the Foot Over Bridges at Bhubaneswar station at peak hours, if required by employing security personnel till the additional FOB is put in place. He also reiterated his earlier demand to raise frequency and augmentation of coaches in Visakhptnam –Amritsar express and make provision of a train uptoAllahbad.He also insisted on the opening of additional PRS counter Samablpur especially at Peak hours, so as to ease the rush at the only counter available at the station. In addition,he requested to address the issue of punctuality of Intercity express and security problems at Sambalpur Road station especially during the night hours.

ShriPrashanta Jena, Member ZRUCC : He expressed his displeasure on replies given to his agenda item like stoppage of three long distance express trains running via Cuttack namely Howrah- Puducherry, Newjaipalguri-Chennai and Howrah – Prasanti express and wanted to know the details about the operational constraint associated with not considering stoppages at Cuttack station. However, GM clarified that the issue was already clarified in the last meeting and also added that two minutes stoppage would entail loss of ten minutes and in that case unless the extra running time is provided, there would be loss in punctuality.However, Hon’ble MP ShriMahatab intervened and indicated that he would pursue the matter at Bd’s level.

ShriKeshab Rout, Member ZRUCC : He requested Railway Admn. to take up the proposalfor running of Metro train in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack region at Railway Board’s level .However,it was clarified that except Kolkata Metro, all metro trains were funded by the State Government and now the metro subject had been vested with the ministry of Urban Development and usually carried out on PPP mode especially funded by the respective state government.

Shri D. Varda Reddy, Member ZRUCC: He reiterated the issue of conducting ZRUCC meeting in Divisional HQrs on rotational basis . However, it was clarified that ZRUCC being a zonal level meeting need to be conducted at Zonal HQ and more so, the Divisional HQ was not equipped with such a big conference hall. He also wanted to know the reason not including some of his given agenda items like extension of Visakhpatnam –Palasa train up to Berhampur and Kakinada –Visakhpatnam passenger train to Arakuvalley. However, GM clarified that first three agenda items were taken for discussion , for which written replies were given in the booklet and other items can be raised during the discussion. He also wanted to know the reason for non-introduction of two express trains namely Visakhpatnam – Chennai weekly SFexpress and Visakhpatnam- Sainagar express declared in the last budget. GM clarified that train those declared in the budget were to be introduced over the period of that financial year duly taking into account the availability of rakes and other traffic considerations. He requested that running of the holiday special trains now running between Visakhpatnam and Quilon might be extended up to the end of January’2013 for convenience of the pilgrimages visiting Ayappa temple . He also enquired as to whether a train between Visakhpatnam to Delhi could be introduced via Berhampur. But GM clarified that there was always aoperational constraint in running a more number of trains in a double line section and for Delhi there were already a good number of trains to handle. He requested that Garib Rath express running between Secunderabad and Visakhpatnam should have a stoppage at Duvaada to which GM clarified the operational constraints associated with such stoppage especially when the train starts from the nearby station i.e. Visakhpatnam.