STATE TIMES NEWS
KATHUA: Nav Kathua Railway Station Nirmaan Samiti (NKRSNS) held a meeting under chairmanship of social worker Rajinder Pacifist at Kathua and demanded a new rail link from Kathua to Billawar.
He urged the Union Government and MoS Jitendra Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh to take up the project as proposed by the Samiti. The proposal he said calls for two new railway stations –one in the heart of Kathua near Boliyan behind Ram Leela ground and second one at Phinter for Billawar Tehsil with two flag stations first at Sherpur near Changran and other at Kumri. The new rail link should start from Madhopur to Kathua town further proceeding to Changran, Sherpur (flag station) and diverted to Logate Kumri (flag station) and further towards Phinter in Billawar where a main railway station for Kathua’s hilly area is proposed that will further move towards Manwal railway station covering Gajroo Nagrota, Ramkote alongside the Dhar Road, Rajinder added.
He said the total distance from Madhopur to Manwal via Kathua and Billawar is almost 92 kilometers. And coming up of the rail line will reduce the distance between Billawar to Kathua to 30 kilometers instead of 80 kilometers at present. The new rail link will help in promoting the entire district Kathua’s hilly area as world level tourist spot.
Keeping in view these advantages, Samiti urged the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and MoS in PMO Jintendra Singh both from the same constituency to take up the project on priority basis. The others who attended the meeting included Sandhu Singh, Sanjeev Verma, Varinder Sharma, Rajeev Sharma, Pankaj, Adyta, Raj Kumar, and others.