Assam floods: Sarbananda Sonowal asks Suresh Prabhu to restore train services to North East

New Delhi: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday appealed to railway minister Suresh Prabhu to restore train services to the North East, which was snapped due to floods. In a telephonic conversation, Sonowal apprised Prabhu of the ordeal faced by the passengers in view of the disruption of the rail links between the Northeastern region and the rest of the country. [caption id=“attachment_3831839” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sarbananda Sonowal. PTI[/caption] The chief minister requested the railway minister to restore train services with the region on a war footing, according to an official release. Sonowal drew the attention of Prabhu to the harrowing time the rail passengers, particularly from the North East, had been going through after the rail link was snapped in the Katihar division in Bihar. The chief minister apprised the railway minister of the impending shortfall of essential commodities that the region might experience following prolonged disruption of rail traffic — both passenger and goods trains — and sought his intervention for early restoration of the damaged portion of the tracks washed away by the deluge. Prabhu told Sonowal that the railways were working to restore train services at the earliest. The chief minister also talked to road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari to ensure smooth movement of goods-laden trucks so that there was no scarcity of essential commodities in Assam and other parts of the North East. Sonowal requested Gadkari to see to it that unscrupulous businessman could not reap the benefits taking advantage of the flood situation by creating artificial scarcity, the official release said. Following allegations that air fares have gone up exponentially after the train services were snapped, Sonowal also talked to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and requested him for ensuring “reasonable fare” of flights to the North East. Talking to reporters, Sonowal said the entire state government machinery was focussed on providing relief and rehabilitation to the flood affected people of the state. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting on Monday, had asked the chief ministers of other states to help the states affected by flood.