The man who eventually “compelled” an otherwise indifferent South Western Railway to introduce the Yeshwantpur-Mangaluru-Yeshwantpur Kudla Express, R.L. Dias, on Sunday was peeved as his efforts went unnoticed during the flagging off of the train here.
Mr. Dias, as president of Udupi Rail Yatri Sangha, had filed a writ petition before the High Court of Karnataka in 2015, seeking a direction to South Western Railway to introduce the train as announced in the 2014-15 Railway Budget by the then Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda.
While the court is continuing to hear the petition, South Western Railway on March 7 this year submitted to the court that the Railways has taken a decision to “introduce a train between Bengaluru City and Mangaluru Central before March 31”. The case now stands posted to April 17.
Mr. Dias was present at the event where Kudla Express was flagged off in a modified form, between Mangaluru Junction and Yeshwantpur. Everyone who spoke about the train patted one’s back about one’s efforts to get the train while none mentioned about the court case.
At the end, Mr. Dias made an attempt to inform the gathering about the court case, but in vain.
He told The Hindu that it is a fact that D.V. Sadananda Gowda as Railway Minister had announced the train between Bengaluru and Mangaluru.
When South Western Railway did not fulfil the Union Minister’s wish, it was he who took up the matter before court. Had it not been for the court case, South Western Railway would not have taken action, Mr. Dias said.
