Rlys to connect Lalu's village with his sasural

PATNA: The native villages of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife, former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, would soon be connected by train under a move to expand the rail network to hitherto untouched places. Prasad's village Phulwaria and that of his wife's- Salar Kalan- both fall under the Gopalganj district. The two "VIP" villages, which boast of a helipad, are now all set to figure on the railway map of the country, Railway sources said. "The track laying work is going on in full swing and it is expected to be completed by December this year," the sources said. Trains chugging along the Siwan-Hathua-Bhatni route would touch Prasad's native village and his 'sasural' under Banaras division under North Eastern Railway zone soon. A railway platform is coming up at Phulwaria. Work for laying the new tracks has been going on for sometime. But the project came into the news after some villagers cried foul over the Railways acquiring their land for the purpose. The Siwan-Hathua-Thawe-Kaptanganj route has been changed to link Phulwaria and Salar Kalan villages. In the changed route plan, trains would not touch Kaptangan and instead would be diverted from Hathua so that they touch Phulwaria and Salar Kalan. The sources claimed that the change of route was decided on the basis of track-population density to benefit more people by providing train services to hitherto untouched areas.