PRAYAGRAJ: The railways, across the country, will not realize any kind of mela (fair) surcharge, said Union minister for railways Piyush Goyal at a function held at Allahabad junction on Friday. The minister was speaking at the ceremony organised to welcome the maiden run of the Vande Bharat train (T-18 train) which arrived at Allahabad junction on its way to Varanasi.“As Kumbh mela was about to start, I was told that like other melas of the country and as per earlier practice, a mela surcharge would be levied on the passengers arriving or departing from this holy city for the entire length of the mela. This was disturbing and within two hours, we signed the orders that this would not be realised,” said the minister. And the decision holds not only for Kumbh but for all the melas throughout the year, he added.As per earlier practice, the Allahabad division, like other division of Indian Railways, used to impose an addition amount of Rs 5 to 40 (depending on the class a passenger is travelling) on the tickets procured during the mela period. The same practice was in use during the nine days of Navratras too, both at Allahabad and Vindhiyachal stations.The minister made another important announcement that train number 12453/54 New Delhi Ranchi Rajdhani Express would be stopping for two minutes at Allahabad Junction from February 16 itself.This announcement was made following the demand made by Shyama Charan Gupta, BJP MP from Allahabad. While speaking at the event, the minister said that there is no Rajdhani Express from Allahabad that touches Ranchi. The minister also spoke at length about the developmental work being done for railways in the NDA regime.He also remembered the Pulwama martyrs and said, “The country will not break or get demoralised by these cowardly acts and a befitting reply would be given to those who have dared to think that we are week”.At the beginning of the event, a two-minute silence was also observed.

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