[Resolved]  Southern Railway — Parangipettai (PO) Railway Station should be saved

Address: Parangi Pettai

Parangipet, historically called Porto Novo ("New Port" in Portuguese) an important and a big town in Cuddalore District, Tamilnadu, has played a major role in the pride of our nation’s history.

Now the basic rights being taken away, the town will be again known for its bitterness or hostility in the proud history of Tamilnadu and the Nation at large.

As yet, the town has been unfairly treated by the state government, though it has got all the required facilities like government and private offices, court premises, many branches of different banking sectors and renowned educational institutions, etc.

This Major town has not been given the status of Taluk headquarters. To say the least, the government doesn’t seem to have taken any steps to make it a reality. Instead of being made the taluk headquarters, this city which was deceived by the state government is now being deceived by the central government. So, this is unfair to this big historical town.

The peoples have been not at all aware of these ground realities and the conspiracy of the state and central Government. But the people’s silence over the addressed issue makes us think that their being silent is like giving a red carpet welcome to governments both the state and central indirect and indifferent schemes.

The Railway Minister, Mr. V.K. Yadev has recently announced that in railway stations, the minimum number of passengers whether getting into or getting down at a particular station should be around 50 persons. If they are less than that, the station shall be considered as a less revenue zone / stop. Henceforth, the trains running on that route will not be allowed to make a halt. It has been recent news that throughout the country, nearly 6, 000 railway stations are going to be shut down and of the above said number, in the southern region 62 stations will remain shut and declared non-stop stations.

Acting on this, Kuwait Tamil Islamic Committee (K-Tic) General secretary and known as RTI activist Parangipet Khaleel Baaqavee has received the information from Right to information Act on his request about the annual revenue of the local railway stations like Parangipettai (PO), Kille (KLL), Puthuchathiram (PUC) and Alappakkam (ALP).

The total annual revenue of Parangipettai according to Southern Railway[protected] comes around 10 Lakhs per year. But, the annual income of Puthuchathiram (PUC) is around only one Lakh or something. Alappakkam (ALP) around only 2 Lakhs or something and Kille (KLL) around only 4 Lakhs or something.

From this it is clear that the highest income is from our big town, Parangipettai (PO). It’s a shock to learn that the Government at the Centre is trying to close this station. We believe there must be some foul play behind this. It is absurd that the Government is trying to close down the station while the peoples have been fighting for their basic rights, like the Platforms to be raised for improved facilities and the Express trains to be halted in the said stations.

At the same time, in Puthuchathiram (PUC) a private thermal power plant is given more importance with improved platform facilities and the four gauges better renovated by the Southern Railway. Compared to Parangipettai (PO), the annual revenue is much much less. What is the Motive behind? More People or Passengers will come to Puthuchathiram (PUC) station if the Parangipettai (PO) station is permanently closed. People are raising questions regarding the State of affairs.

The People of Villages like Chinnoor, Pudhupettai, Samiyarpettai etc… find Parangipettai (PO) station to be nearer and more convenient and this station has been of great use for a quite longtime.

Moreover, people put the blame on Southern Railway and feel that it has failed to give a fair hearing to the longtime grievances of the public by giving importance to the private sector owners.

Regarding this we have sent a request to RTI but we have not received any reply from the Southern Railway, Trichy as yet.

Therefore, we have been anxiously waiting that Mr. Thol. Thirumavalavan, Our MP from Chidambaram Constituency will voice our grievances on behalf of the people in the Parliament.

Thanking You.

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