The Congress leaders raised slogans against the Central Government. They also raised slogans in support of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. State Congress Chief Markam submitted a memorandum addressed to Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw to DRM of SECR Raipur division Shyam Sunder Gupta, requesting him to resume the operation of23 trains passing through Chhattisgarh at the earliest.

MLAs Vikas Upadhyay, Kuldeep Juneja, State Congress Media Chief Sushil Anand Shukla, District Congress Committee (Urban) Raipur President Girish Dubey, Speaker of Raipur Municipal Corporation Pramod Dubey, Kanhaiya Agrawal, Dhananjay Singh Thakur, Radheshyam Vibhar, Sundar Jogi, Banshi Kannoje and other Congress leaders were present.

Talking to media persons here, State Congress Chief Mohan Markam said that the Central government is harassing the

people of Chhattisgarh by cancelling these trains. Marriage season is at peak and the operation of these trains were cancelled and because of it, the common people in Chhattisgarh are facing problems.

“The Central Government has created an artificial shortage of electricity and coal and has now cancelled operations of 23 passenger trains to speed up the supply of coal from Chhattisgarh. We will not allow this to happen. If the Central Government does not resume the operations of these trains immediately, then we will stop the supply of electricity and coal from State,” Markam said. The State Congress Chief threatened that if the operations of passenger trains are not restored, the Congress will stop the goods trains carrying coal from State and stop the supply of coal in the country.

Meanwhile, the operation of total 23 express and local trains passing through Chhattisgarh has been cancelled for one month from April 24, 2022 through an order issued by Principal

Chief Operations Manager, South-East Central Railway, Bilaspur on April 23, 2022. All these trains pass daily via different rail routes in Chhattisgarh. No alternative arrangement has been made for the passengers prior to the closure of these train services. Earlier, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Subrat Sahoo had written a letter to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Railway Board, urging to continue the operation of local trains passing

through Chhattisgarh.