Jorhat, Nov. 3: People residing on either side of the Rajabari area at Garali road have raised objections over the proposed plying of long-distance trains on the railway track which runs alongside the road from Mariani to Jorhat railway station.

The residents have demanded complete removal of the railway track.

A section of the populace, having united under the banner of South Jorhat Development Committee, said the railway track was hampering development of Jorhat town towards the south, resulting in severe traffic congestion. It also proved to be a risk to life, going by the number of people killed by the Jan Shatabdi Express in the past few years.

Amrik Singh Padam, a resident of the area, said the route for all proposed long distance trains to and from Jorhat railway station should be from Furkating via Bhalukmora and Rowriah on the south-western side.

“The Northeast Frontier Railways should strengthen and double track that line. An overbridge has been planned to be constructed over the Na-ali to ease congestion on the road when the rail gate is closed,” Padam said.

“Mariani is about 30 to 45 minutes from Jorhat by car or bus and if the town is to expand, then people can board the train at Mariani itself,” he said, adding that people travelled more than an hour to reach the bus stand at Lokhra in Guwahati.

Arun Bora, another resident, said there was already a large number of educational institutions like Carmel School, Eastern Theological College and ITI and other establishments like the LIC divisional office, the district transport office and Tocklai Experimental station, besides colo-nies, which fell on Garali road.

“There is always the danger of students and employees being run over if the number of high-speed trains are increased,” Bora said.

The committee has also demanded that Cinnamara or Bhalukmora be developed as separate stations for goods rakes as the current station at JPR junction resulted in a rush of heavy trucks to unload goods, to be carried to the FCI godowns at Cinnamara or to other private godowns.

“A station should be built near the FCI godown at Cinnamara because manoeuvring these trucks along this route results not only in hour-long traffic jams but also causes heavy damage to the road,” Padam said.

A memorandum in this regard will soon be submitted to Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee and general manager of NF Railways.

A high-ranking railway official said the committee could submit its demands and the feasibility of implementing them would be assessed only after studying them in detail.

The plan currently is to route the proposed long-distance trains from Tinsukia-Dibrugarh on a newly-laid track from the Mariani old locomotive shed and connect it to the present track to Jorhat railway station and route them out from the Furkating side via Rowriah and Bhalukmora.

On the risk to life, he said a heavy barricade would be constructed on either side of the track and residents living on the other side would be allowed out only from a few manned crossings.