Gujjar agitation costs India Inc Rs 7000 crore

Rajasthan is back on track with the Gujjar leaders calling off their 26-day long agitation. The total loss incurred during this period is Rs 7000 crore, according to an industry body. "The 26-day-long agitation has led to losses of above Rs 7000 crore to various industries and specifically Railways," Sajjan Jindal, president of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), told reporters. "The major blows fell on the railways and tourism industry. Also, the disruption of railway freight traffic caused production delays in many parts of the country," Jindal said. "The figures do not include the losses of property and damages done to railway tracks," he added. Though the railways have not come up with any loss figure so far, sources said the Gujjar agitation resulted in a loss of about Rs 500 million to it due to cancellation of tickets alone. The Delhi-Mumbai trunk route was the worst-affected owing to the blockades in Rajasthan. Both western and northern railways have suffered huge losses. "More than 1,000 trains were either cancelled or diverted or terminated before their destinations during this period," an official said. According to North-Western Railways (NWR), 50,000 passengers and goods worth Rs120 million were stranded due to the agitation. The NWR suffered about Rs 375 million losses. "The freight corridor between Mumbai and Delhi via Rajasthan was the worst affected due to the blockade, and the movement of container trains dropped to less then 50 per cent between Jaipur and Delhi," the official added. Now, normal rail traffic will be restored in a day or two. Mudit Mittal, spokesperson of West Central Railway, said: "We have already opened many lines and the lines passing the worst affected areas will be opened after 18-20 hours. The repair work of the track has already started. "However, for some time we will put speed restriction of 20 km per hour for the trains in the affected areas. "A team from railways will go for inspection and will repair the broken tracks. Then only the complete railway services will be restored. The process will take one or two days," said a senior railway ministry official. He added that the damages caused to the railways will be calculated only after an inspection.

Source - Times of India