A life-long Bengalurean, he has been working in the area of garbage collection and depletion of green cover. But perhaps his most important work has been in the area of railways. Currently, Prakash Mandoth is working on projects pertaining to metro rail, railways, tourism and infrastructure.
“As in every child, railway trains aroused curiosity in me. I always enjoyed the sound of an approaching steam engine and its whistle. A couple of decades ago, it used to be much more difficult, and occasionally in an emergency if you had to travel by train and hope to manage a seat while travelling, that was a nightmare. My first-hand experience of the stench in toilets, the rude and unjust behaviour of some of the staff, the unhygienic food and many more aspects of train travel brought out frustration and anger. It also provoked me to do something to change the system, to help the common man and see that Karnataka get its fair share in terms of train facilities,” he says.
The journey began in 1995 when he approached railway authorities via letters. “I had to wait for days for a response. I soon realised that all important decisions are made in Delhi. So I started going there.” He visited Delhi several times after gathering signatures from Bengalureans to draw the attention of the Railway Board to the needs of the city.
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“The city needs a commuter rail system. A third coaching terminal needs to be set up at Byappanahalli as well as a new station at Hoodi. I have been requesting the Railways since 2007 to acquire Binny Mills land and LandT Pre Concrete structure yard and construct more platforms for the City Railway Station,” he says.
Currently, Mr. Mandoth is Chairman of the Sub Committee on Tourism at the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Earlier, he had been a part of the Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committee, Southern Railway and South Western Railway. “The government should seriously consider smart satellite townships near cities, increase green cover and campaign for awareness about Swach Bharath, Swach Karnataka.”
He believes that early completion of Phase I of the Metro is of paramount importance so that Phase II can be completed on time. “More importantly, there is a necessity to implement BRTS wherever possible, and especially on the Outer Ring Road to help thousands of people employed there,” he says.
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Suggestions for government/railways
1: Install automatic signalling in Bengaluru
2: Quadruple Bengaluru City-Whitefield line
3: Connect airport by rail
4. Build new railway station at trumpet on Devanahalli line.
Three projects he is working on
1: Commissioning new Bengaluru-Hassan line via Nelamangala
2: Commissioning of Bengaluru-Mysuru doubling and electrification
3: Divisional Railway HQ at Mangaluru
What Bengalureans can do:
1: Form and participate in RWAs
2: Participate in demanding solutions for civic problems instead of leaving the job to NGOs