Member of Parliament and Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant on Thursday criticised the Railway Ministry for not giving adequate representation to local elected representatives, and asked the Union Minister of State (Railways), Suresh Angadi, to not take them for granted.
Mr. Sawant made these remarks at the flagging-off ceremony of the inaugural run of the first air-conditioned local train on the Central Railway. Mr. Angadi also inaugurated 13 foot overbridges, booking offices at Ghatkopar and Kaman Road, toilets at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and Panvel, high volume low speed fans at Byculla and Dadar, a solar panel at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), free Wi-Fi at 20 stations, and indicators at Dadar and Thane. The minister did all the inaugurations digitally at CSMT.
“These are small works. Why should everything be inaugurated by the minister? Now you are just sitting in one place and pressing buttons. Digitisation has its place. But if you are having a digital inauguration even for toilets, it is a problem,” Mr. Sawant said.
The train at Thane station.
Mr. Angadi, who was on his first trip to the city as a minister, apologised, and said in future care would be taken in this regard. “A lot of changes have happened in the Railways since our government came to power. Earlier there used to be only politics in the Railways, now there is only service,” he said.
Mr. Sawant also asked the Railways to explore the feasibility of using the lines on Mumbai Port Trust land, which is used for freight operations, for passenger services.
Guardian Minister for Mumbai (City) Aslam Sheikh said the Railways should introduce Wi-Fi on board trains in the same fashion as it has been done on flights.
The inaugural run of the Panvel-Thane AC local was delayed by 18 minutes as Mr. Angadi arrived nearly one hour after the scheduled time. The train left Panvel at 3.48 p.m. and reached Thane at 4.57 p.m..
The train driven by a motorwoman and with a woman guard had several enthusiastic passengers. “This was most awaited as the summer is approaching. Heat is unbearable while travelling and these trains are going to help people stay cool,” Pramod Mhatre, a resident of Belapur who commutes daily to Koparkhairane for work, said. Seema Mukherjee, a resident of Kharghar who commutes to Airoli for work, said the closed doors would ensure that no one would die by falling off the train.
The tickets of the train are priced at 1.3 times the first class fare but passengers are not too perturbed.
“An Ola from Thane to Panvel would cost double what the rate of the train is for a single journey. This means one can travel with the same kind of ease at half the rate minus the fear of any road accident and traffic,” advocate Fatima Shaikh, who travels occasionally to Thane from Panvel, said.
Bullet train project
Mr. Angadi in an interaction with journalists on the sidelines of the event said the bullet train project will be completed on time. “Bullet train is the dream of the Prime Minister. It is going to happen. So we request the Maharashtra government to cooperate in handing over the land,” he said. The project is in the midst of a political battle between the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and the Centre. It has been facing land acquisition issues in the tribal belts of Palghar for nearly one year.
(With inputs from Raina Assainar)
