Lalu connects his village with in-laws'

ON THURSDAY, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav accomplished his long-cherished dream of connecting his ancestral village Phulwaria, with that of wife Rabri Devi's village at Salar Kala, a distance of 2.9 km. The railway minister opened a new rail line on a 17.5 km stretch between Hathua and Phulwaria in Gopalganj district, for rail traffic after flagging off a passenger train.
The remaining area of 79.64-km-long Hathua-Bhatni section is yet to be completed. The entire project will cost Rs 60 crore.
The railway minister also inaugurated the newly-constructed railway station building at Phulwaria and Salar Khurd respectively. The train to Phulwaria from Hajipur will touch new railway stations at Hathua, Lain Bazar and Salar Khurd on and reach Phulwaria in four hours.
Phulwaria, already has a helipad, a hospital, a telephone exchange, a middle school, modern block office, concrete roads with solar lights, and now a modern railway station. Now, Lalu has promised more for his village.
"A train to Delhi will soon run from here. The entire section will be electrified up to Hathua," he announced after inaugurating the Phulwaria station.
Announced in the 2006-07 Rail Budget, the Hathua-Bathua Bazar link on the Hathua-Bhatni section has been on top of the Railway Ministry's agenda. In fact, the Railway Minister reportedly wanted it to be completed by December 2007.
However, after Phulwaria station, construction work has barely begun. Only the digging part has been done till Bathua Bazar.