While the Indian Railways had said it will develop Mangalore Junction Railway Station according to world-class standards, the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) is in the process of identifying additional land required for the purpose.
MCC Commissioner (in-charge) Gokuldas Nayak informed a meeting chaired by Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha Member Nalin Kumar Kateel that the survey would be completed in a fortnight. The Corporation is confident of identifying and acquiring about 100-150 acres of land, in addition to 63 acres held by the Southern Railway for the proposed renovation, Mr. Nayak said.
On getting the land, the Railways will identify a private partner to develop the station, Mr. Kumar said in the meeting, which was attended by officials of the Southern Railway and the Konkan Railway. The approach roads to the station too would have to be developed into world-class standards by the MCC, he added.
Road bridges
Responding to demands by area councillors, Mr. Kumar said the proposed road underbridge (RuB) at Jeppu Kudpadi in the city would be completed by June 15, for which the MCC has already paid Rs. 3.61 crore to the Southern Railway, he said. The RuB is funded solely by the MCC. The RuB on Padil-Bajal Road would be completed by March 15, he said.
Meanwhile, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken over construction of the second road overbridge (RoB) at Baikampadi and added it would be complete by February. Another RoB on Mangalore-Bangalore NH near B.C. Road would be complete by January, he said.
While work on Adarsh station at Puttur would be complete next month, the construction of two more platforms for that station would be over by February, he said. Two RoBs – near APMC and Vivekananda College – in Puttur have been sanctioned under 50:50 cost sharing pattern and the state government has to approve the same, he said.
KRCL officials informed the MP that the shortcomings noticed by him – unclean platforms, lack of parking space, etc. – at the Surathkal station had been addressed. Mr. Kumar asked the district administration to shift the commercial tax check post near the station entrance (for checking trucks to be loaded on roll on-roll off service) to a different place to remove congestion in the area.
Southern Railway’s Palakkad Divisional Railway Manager Anand Prakash, and Konkan Railway’s Karwar Regional Manager Bindu Muralidharan were present.
