Kundapur halt for Mangalore-CST train, locals celebrate
Silvester D’Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur
Kundapur, Sep 26: The announcement of Kundapur railway station as an official halt for Mangalore-Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) train has been welcomed by the locals. As per the announcement made on September 23, the train will halt at Kundapur for 2 minutes for the next 6 months on experimental basis.
Kundapur railway passengers' rights committee organized a programme to welcome the Mangalore-CST train that halted on Wednesday September 25 for the first time.
Addressing the gathering, Udupi-Chikmangalur MP Jayaprakash Hegde said that steps will be taken to upgrade Kundapur railway station in the coming days.
"Citizens of coastal districts have benefitted a lot from the past two years as various trains have started passing through this route. Inter-city rail, Mangalore-Hyderabad train, Puducherry train are some of them. In addition, Kundapur has been declared a halt for most of them," he said.
"Advance booking center was set up at the main post office in Kundapur due to which monthly income increased to more than Rs 2.5 lac," he said.
"The people of the coastal districts are also facing problems due to the four-laning of national highway and the issue has come to my notice. We see Brahmavar citizens protesting against the embankment; I shall try to find alternative measures in the coming days," he said.
On the occasion, Kenchanur Somashekar Shetty, convener of railway department development committee submitted a memorandum to J P Hegde urging to construct a 600 metre road from railway station to Basrur-Kundapur road, to which the MP gave a positive response and said that he will hold discussions with the officials on the issue.
A demand for direct road connectivity from railway station to APMC market was also placed.
Radhakrishna Shenoy and Sachidanand Shetty who were elected as advisory members for railways were honored by the MP.
BJP regional president Rajesh Kaveri, former president B Kishore Kumar, Congress president Ganesh Sherigar, Koni panchayat member Babu Poojary, various association members among others were present.