nThe Chhattisgarh High Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the Indian Railways within two weeks for not running passenger and local trains besides charging double the fare in special trains in the state.
After hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), Chief Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon and Justice Parth Prateem Sahu directed the railway authorities to file a reply within two weeks, Sudiep Shrivastava, appearing as Petitioner-in-Person, told The Pioneer.
The High Court fixed next month for hearing the case.
Shrivastava filed a PIL in October in the court on the issue against the Chairman of the Railway Board.
He stated in his PIL that all passenger and local trains were cancelled during lockdown due to the Corona crisis last year. After June, some passenger trains were started as special trains.
However, the coaches, timings and stoppage of all these special trains are the same as the original Express/Mail trains and the authorities are levying double train fare from the passengers, he argued.
In Rajdhani Express, the passengers are being charged for food but it is not available while unauthorized vendors sell food in violation of Covid protocol, he said.
Shrivastava stated that all passenger and local trains are still not plying in the state despite public demand while these trains are operational in Mumbai. The railways have approved proposals to ply local and passenger trains in states like West Bengal and Bihar.
The Railway Board has not replied to the High Court’s first notice served in October, he added.
