Rupsa: The Haladipada railway station in Balasore is important for the passenger service of South Eastern Railway, but the public here is upset at the neglect of the station by the authorities. The people have decided to stage a rail roko July 8 over the issue.
The station was established 60 years ago, but it has not been developed. There are no basic facilities for passengers. The SER earns Rs 3 lakh revenue every month from the station.
Thousands of people from Haladipada, Raisuan, Nagram, Odangan, Kuradiha, Chaskhand, Bahabalpur and Dubulagadi use train services from here daily, but face problems due to the lack of basic facilities.
The people here have demanded the extension of MEMU service (Howrah-Jaleswar) and the Bhajpur-Rupsa train up to Balasore, upgrading of the Nidhi Panda underpass, ATMs, a reservation counter and a higher bridge at Khandahar.
Although the SER authorities were informed about the problems nothing has been done so far, the people said.
Local leaders like Rabindranath Mohanty, Bruhaspati Sahu, Sudarshan Nayak, Chaitanya Sahu and Birendra Kumar Nanda have warned of protests and a rail roko from 6.30 am to 9.30 pm July 8. They have intimated this to the Kharagpur DRM, the Balasore Collector, the SP and the Station Manager.
The people here have staged protests in 2017 and 2018 too. Despite that nothing was done by the Railways, said Rabindranath.
The Station Manager said the SER’s higher authorities have been informed about the station’s problems.