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Journalism of Courage
A Grand plan to flag-off a mobile exhibition train on the country’s 60th Independence Day, commemorating the First War of Independence, has got derailed for the time being.
As per the original plan, the train was to be flagged off from the Safdarjang railway station on August 15 and would have returned to the same station after almost nine months after travelling through 60 cities in the country. Now, the flagging-off has been deferred till September 28, so as to coincide with Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary.
According to Railway officials, the delay happened because they did not receive a payment of around Rs 11 crore. They also alleged that the Culture and Information and Broadcasting Ministries have not been able to get the necessary publicity materials installed inside the coaches.
“From what we understand, there is a problem about the charges being sought by the Railways. We have informed the National Implementation Committee (NIC) that railway-related costs have always been recovered to run such trains and that no concession can be offered here,” a senior railway official said. “Also, the fact that the concerned authorities have not been able to ready the coaches in time for Independence Day could be the reason for the delay,” the official added. Railways claims to have handed over the 16-coach rail to the concerned ministries in the first week of July.
A senior official in the Culture Ministry, when contacted, said the delay in starting the train was not because of the payment issue. “The mobile exhibition is not yet ready. The creative part is still to be completed. That has caused the delay,” he said. The official said the Railways would be paid all the due charges. “This is not the first time that such a mobile exhibition has been organised. Payments will be made according to norms.”
Meanwhile, the Culture Ministry is learnt to have shot off a communication to the Railways seeking recalculation of charges as per older rates. If Railways charge according to older rates, the amount would come down to Rs 5-6 crore, sources added.
The costs worked out by the Railways primarily relate to fuel and electricity charges, detention charges, and costs of deploying loco-pilots and guards on the train.
The train will cover Meerut, Barrackpore, Behrampur and Lalitpur, which are directly related to the 1857 revolt, in addition to Jammu, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Sabarmati, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kanyakumari, Vizag, Bhubaneswar, Howrah, Guwahati, Patna, Jhansi, Bhopal, Gwalior and Agra.
