A Railway Adalat organized by the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday felt the need for merging the Mangaluru Railway region with the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd., for the overall development of coastal Karnataka.
While MLC and Karnataka Government’s representative to Southern Railway Ivan D’Souza reiterated the wish of the coastal people, KCCI representative to Southern Railway and Konkan Railway Mohandas Prabhu said it is high time that the original plan of KRCL be brought into action. The DPR prepared by E. Sridharan, Mr. Prabhu said, had fixed the southern boundary of KRCL at Ullal and not at Thokur, which is the present border.
Between Thokur and Ulla, there lies the treasure — New Mangalore Port — that is providing more than 80 per cent of the revenue to SR’s Palakkad Division. If that region is brought under KRCL, it would have enough resources to double and electrify the Mangaluru-Mumbai (Thokur-Panvel) Railway thereby heralding overall economic development of the region, Mr. Prabhu said.
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Unfortunately, representatives of KRCL, including its Regional Railway Manager, Karwar, Bindu Muralidharan, did not turn up at the Adalat.
Several other issues concerning the coastal region were raised in the Adalat, including speeding up of Karwar-Mangaluru-Bengaluru night train, introducing more trains between Mangaluru-Bengaluru and Mangaluru-Mumbai.
Mumbai Railway Yatri Sangha Executive Secretary Oliver D’Souza, Udupi Railway Yatri Sangha President R.L. Dias, Paschima Karavali Railway Yatri Abhivriddhi Samithi President G. Hanumanth Kamath, KCCI President Nigam Vasani and Vice President Rammohan Pai Maroor and others were present.
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