Ranchi, July 2: The people of Jharkhand are looking up to railway minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Trinamul Congress chief will present the railway budget in the Lok Sabha tomorrow and the people here want her to include Jharkhand in her sop list, besides solving a number of issues.

“The first thing she should do is address the crisis of porters,” said Sajjan Saraf, the secretary-general of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI).

After former railway minister Lalu Prasad ensured fourth-grade permanent jobs for the porters, railway stations across the country have been hit by an acute shortage of porters. Senior citizens are bearing the major brunt, as they have to carry heavy luggage. “At Ranchi and Hatia stations, porters have virtually disappeared after Lalu’s experiment,” Saraf complained.

The FJCCI, Chhotanagpur Passengers’ Association and other organisations have already shot letters to the railway minister, urging her to provide some new trains to Jharkhand. “We are expecting a couple of new trains for Jharkhand. We hope that the new railway minister will fulfil our long-standing demands,” said Ashok Nagpal, the secretary of Chhotanagpur Passenger Association.

The association wants trains from Ranchi to Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

Besides, they also want Mamata to take care of passenger amenities. Saraf said that railway stations across the state, especially Ranchi and Hatia, should have chairs on the lines of Howrah station of Bengal. “At present, there are some benches on which people usually sleep. As a result, passengers have to stand . Separate chairs will solve the problem,” Saraf said.

He also demanded provisions for safe drinking water. Additional divisional railway manager M.K. Yadav said that drinking water facility would be made available at the Ranchi station within a month.

Passengers also have asked the authorities to conduct surprise inspections at trains to check out whether clean bed sheets and blankets were being provided.