Rly reservation centre at Leh to solve soldiers' problems

Rly reservation centre at Leh to solve soldiers' problems
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, MARCH 26: No longer will soldiers coming down from Siachen or Chushul have to bribe ticket inspectors at Jammu station with bottles of rum to get a reservation home. And no longer would the Jammu station witness ugly brawls with soldiers beating up Railway staff in sheer frustration.

A railway passenger reservation centre -- the highest in the world -- was inaugurated at Leh today. A joint effort of the Army and the Railways, the reservation centre will go a long way in alleviating the problems of armed forces personnel posted in the region apart from the local residents and tourists.

Till now, railway reservations could only be done from either Jammu or Chandigarh -- the nearest railheads -- and caused immense hardship to the people. With the introduction of reservation facility at Leh, people of the region will be able to book railway tickets to any part of the country from Leh. The reservation centre was jointly inaugurated by Lt General Arjun Ray, General Officer Commanding, 14 Corps, and R.K. Thoopal, member (traffic), Railway Board.

``It used to be very frustrating for soldiers to reach Jammu station from Leh on 14 days' leave and be told there are no reservations for the next five days unless four bottles of rum exchanged hands. The Railways and we together have tried to improve the lives of soldiers,'' highly placed Army sources said.

Soldiers just have to reach Leh and book their tickets anywhere in the country since the computers will be directly connected to New Delhi. The infrastructure for the railway reservation centre was provided by the Army. This is the third such reservation centre in J&K for the benefit of jawans and officers of the Army. The other two centres are at Srinagar and Udhampur cantonments. The Railways and the Army are jointly starting one at Rajauri near Poonch shortly.

This reservation centre would also help in promotion of tourism in remote areas. Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Northern Railway (NR), Chandralekha Mukherjee said that Leh, with its numerous Tibetan monastries, held special attraction for foreign tourists during the summer. Senior Army and Railway officials, including General Manager, NR, S.P Mehta, attended the inauguration.