A total of 75 compartments are being repaired in the country’s biggest railway workshop in Saidpur upazila town. The railway department has taken this step to curb the hassles of homebound people during the upcoming Eid-ul-Aza. This correspondent yesterday saw these compartments being repaired in the carriage  shop of the factory. Md Abdul Mannan, a worker, said that  additional coaches will be attached to each train in order to alleviate the sufferings of the home-coming people. He mentioned these additional coaches will be taken from the Saidpur railway workshop.

Dilshal Karim Abuhena, a railway engineer, told this correspondent that there are acute shortage of manpower in all 28 workshops of this  railway  factory. He also that only 1,141 workers are working  against the requirement of 3,171 workers in this workshop. He mentioned that about 85  coaches were repaired in the workshop before Eid-ul-Fitr.

Sources said that out of the 75 compartments being repaired, 50 are  for broad gauge and the rest for meter gauge. The repaired  coaches will be handed over to the railway traffic department before August 16, they added.

The divisional superintendent of Saidpur railway factory, Md Muhammad Kydrod-e-Khuda,  told The Independent: "We're trying our best even amid the acute manpower crisis."