Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
With IANS Inputs
Mangalore, Jul 8: The people of coastal region were keenly awaiting the railway budget, pinning their hopes on son of the soil D V Sadananda Gowda. Expectations were high, but in the end, the general feeling was that the budget was quite a disappointment for the coastal people.
A separate division for Mangalore railway was high on the list, but that did not happen. The consolation was the announcement of a new express train from Bangalore that would run on a daily basis to the city.
Another announcement was survey for new lines on Sringeri-Shimoga-Mangalore and Kanhangad-Panathur (Kasargod district)-Kaniyoor routes, and doubling of Mangalore-Ullal-Suratkal track.
That's about it for Dakshina Kannada.
Byndoor which comes under Kundapur taluk in Udupi district will get a daily passenger train to Kasargod in Kerala state. Ironically, this is a route that wasn't even demanded by the people in Byndoor. Sources said that the train has been introduced following a demand from Kerala to cater to the large number of devotees visiting Kollur Temple from Kasargod.
Reacting to the budget, Kenchanur Somashekhar Shetty of Railway Passengers' Welfare Forum told daijiworld that the budget was a big disappointment to the people of the coastal region, and that none of the demands put forth by the people through his Forum had been met.
Karnataka's share
Overall, Karnataka got only one premium train, four express trains and three passenger trains.
Sadananda Gowda who represents the Bangalore North parliamentary constituency, did not include Karnataka in the list of new five Jansadharan trains and seven AC express trains he announced for other cities/states. There is no extension of trains operating from Karnataka either.
The major announcement was introduction of suburban trains in Bangalore, which will hopefully ease the traffic in the capital city to a considerable extent.
"Bangalore with its bustling business activity attracts large commuters from surrounding rural areas and towns necessitating better connectivity of Bangalore City with its suburban areas and hinterland. Study to explore possibility of enhancing the existing IR network of Bangalore for meeting this need will be taken up," he said.
"In addition, to cater to the demand of passenger traffic in Bangalore area, Byyappanahalli will be developed as a coaching terminal," Sadananda Gowda added.
The Bangalore-Tatanagar express will operate from the new railway station at Baiyyappanahali in the city's eastern suburb. Three pairs of MEMU (mainline electric multiple unit) service will run from Bangalore to Ramanagaram in the old Mysore region six days a week except Sundays for the convenience of suburban commuters.
The other announcements that include Karnataka state are:
- A tourist train from Gadag to Pandarpur via Bagalkot, Bijapur and Solapur covering the pilgrim and tourist places of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Another such train from Rameshwaram covering pilgrim and tourist places like Bangalore, Chennai, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Haridwar.
- Higher speed of 160-200 kmph for existing trains on Mysore-Bangalore-Chennai sector by upgrading the present network.
- New Kamakhya - Bangalore Premium Express
- Bangalore - Shimoga Express (bi-weekly)
- Bangalore - Nelamangala DEMU service (daily)
- Bidar - Mumbai Express (weekly)
- Yesvantpur – Tumkur Passenger (Daily)
- Dharwad – Dandeli Passenger (Daily) via Alnavar
- Survey for Mysore-Kushalnagar portion of Mysore-Kushalnagar-Madikeri new line has been
completed and the state government has agreed to share the cost of the project. This will provide rail connectivity to important tourist destinations in Kodagu. Approvals to be obtained after completion of remaining survey up to Madikeri.
- Survey for new lines for Gadag - Harpanhalli and Gabbur - Bellary routes.
Mangalore: BJP applauds rail budget
Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (MD)
Mangalore, Jul 8: Despite the lukewarm response to the railway budget from the coastal region, the BJP party members along with their leaders applauded the budget with a celebration outside the district BJP office here on Tuesday July 8.
Even as union railway minister D V Sadananda Gowda announced the railway budget, the BJP party workers were happy that DVS gave a 'bumper' offer to the Dakshina Kannada district and burst crackers outside the office.
Speaking to the media, Ravishankar Mijar, Mangalore South president said, "BJP has already formed the government and under PM Narendra Modi, our party is doing very good. DVS is presenting the railway budget and many good things are going to happen to Mangalore city."
"Today the youths of Mangalore are happy that BJP is doing what Congress party could not do before," said state BJP Yuva Morcha vice-president Kishore Kumar.
Premanand Shetty, Kannur corporator Sudhir Shetty, Asha Jagadish, Nithin Kumar and many others were also present during the celebration.
At the end sweets were distributed.