Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah on Sunday said the proposal of Northern Railways to have the transhipment of Srinagar-Jammu trains at Katra railway station would “defeat the very purpose of the line” and render the thousands of crores of investment pointless.
“Just to remove any chance of any misunderstanding, while we understand the need to secure the train & the passengers who will travel using it, making passengers change trains will defeat the very purpose of the line and render the thousands of crores of investment pointless,” he wrote on X.
The chief minister supported the idea of having security checks at the Katra station but said the railway authorities have no concrete proposal yet.
“Check the train/passengers in Katra or Jammu, sure, but NO change of train will be supported by us. That said, there is no concrete proposal, and when there is, we will give our inputs/suggestions,” Omar said.
ETV Bharat was the first to report exclusively that Northern Railways has planned that the Srinagar-Jammu trains will stop at Katra Railway Station, and the passengers will change trains and board Jammu- or Srinagar-bound trains at Platform Number 1.
The railway authorities cited security reasons, saying that all passengers will have to rescan their luggage, etc., and change to Platform Number 1 to board a train towards Jammu or Srinagar.
The transhipment plan has created an uproar in the valley, with traders and opposition political parties condemning the move and demanding that train connectivity between Kashmir and Jammu must be direct with no transhipment.
CM Omar was reacting to the uproar created by opposition parties over the issue, and his defence of the stopover in a medal byte in Gulmarg where the CM had defended the “security checkups” and train exchanges for passengers at Katra.
People's Conference (PC) President and legislator Sajad Lone said the change of train in Katra erodes the train of all its psychological relevance.
Lone lashed out at Omar for defending the change of trans at Katra railway station. “Please give us all a break. Stop justifying everything and anything that the BJP does. By justifying security excuses, you can virtually justify everything. That is what current and past governments have done,” Lone wrote on X.
“Wish our people had remembered your utterances as NDA Union minister. I, per se, am not surprised at your right-wing views on security issues. Then and now—you sound like Delhi’s man in Kashmir. And they are yet to admit you into the NDA. I said it umpteen times and will repeat it. The day you join them, people will forget the past five years. You will create new records in torture,” he said.
Lone said the change of train in Katra erodes the train of all its psychological relevance. “And I would love to know what they will do security-related in Katra that they can’t do in Srinagar,” he said.
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