Green activists at a discussion here on Sunday demanded that the Dhaka-Narayanganj rail route be upgraded into double-line one to facilitate the movement of growing number of passengers.
They said, thousands of people travel by trains on Dhaka-Narayanganj route every day and they return home after their daily work, but the passengers suffer a lot during their journeys due to poor service and lack of adequate trains.
Paribesh Bachao Andolan and Work for Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust jointly organised the discussion on Dhaka-Narayanganj rail service at its office in the capital. Paba executive general secretary Engr Abdus Sobhan, its coordinator Atiq Morshed, and WBB Trust programme officers Mahruf Hossain and Atiqur Rahman, among others, spoke at the discussion.
Abdus Sobhan said, legal complications, negligence of railway officials and conflicts of interest of labour organisations are creating impediments towards railway’s development apart from manpower crisis in the sector.
He asked the authorities concerned to increase trains on Dhaka-Narayanganj rail route to minimise the sufferings of people who travel by trains to capital Dhaka every day.
Mahruf Hossain of WBB Trust said the government had taken a mega plan immediately after the country’s independence to develop its railway sector, but there has been no mentionable initiative since then.
