Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA (BANKURA): Mr. Chairman, Sir, although the allocation is only for Rs. 25,000 this is a token allocation. I thank the hon. Minister of Railways for making this allocation for the terminal at Belur. This is a necessity for the passengers going to Belur Mutt because the Belur Mutt station is two kilometres away from Belur Mutt.

There was a demand from the people of West Bengal and I have also raised it a number of times here about the coaching terminals. Mumbai has a number of coaching terminals and Delhi also has a number of coaching terminals. But Kolkata has only two coaching terminals – Howrah and Sealdah. The Shalimar station was to be developed. In the Eighties it was planned to have 12 platforms at Shalimar station and that all the trains of the South Eastern Railway would start from Shalimar station and would terminate at Shalimar station. But 15 years after the Shalimar coaching terminal was sanctioned, only two platforms have come up and only one train starts and terminates at that station which is the Aranya Express. It has not been developed into a full-fledged coaching terminal.

There is a demand for a coaching terminal either at Paddapakur or Satragachi. I was told that the Ministry of Railways had written to the State Government for getting the land for Paddapakur. There is also a need for a coaching terminal at Dum Dum. The Howrah station has become congested with all the trains coming to Howrah every day. It is our experience that the trains are getting delayed by one or two hours because there is hardly any capacity left in Howrah station. There was a proposal to have a double discharge platform at Howrah station. It has also not been done. There is a need to increase the capacity of the Howrah station and that can be done if two terminals are there. Shalimar station can be developed to a full-fledged coaching terminal and an additional terminal should be developed either at Paddapakur or Satragachi.

I hope that in the next Budget, the hon. Minister of Railways will definitely sanction at least three coaching terminals for Kolkata realising the problems of Howrah as well as Sealdah stations.

सभापति महोदय : सदन का समय समाप्त हो रहा है, मैं सदन की अनुमति चाहूंगा कि जब तक चर्चा पूरी नहीं हो जाती, सदन का समय बढ़ा दिया जाये।

श्री बसुदेव आचार्य : एक घंटा बढ़ा दिया जाये।

सभापति महोदय : जब तक अनुपूरक मांगे पूरी न हो जायें, तब तक समय बढ़ा दिया जाये।

18.00 hrs. श्री बसुदेव आचार्य : जब तक सब माननीय सदस्य नहीं बोलेंगे, तब तक हाउस चलेगा।