Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SHS)
Mangalore, Aug 16: Though it was a red-letter day for many Mangaloreans as union minister for railways D V Sadananda Gowda laid the foundation for the long-pending underbridge on Padil-Bajal route, another major demand of the citizens, that of making Mangalore a separate railway division, seems still a distant dream, with the minister himself indirectly admitting of being under pressure against making such a move.
Addressing a press meet here on Saturday August 16 after laying the foundation for the underbridge, Sadananda Gowda said that he was caught between Palakkad division (under which Mangalore railway currently operates), the Konkan Railway Corporation and Mysore division.
"The major revenue, as much as 70-75 percent, for Palakkad division comes from Mangalore. The Palakkad division is not willing to let Mangalore be detached from it and made a separate division. The Konkan Railway too will suffer losses if that happens. However, we are considering this issue and will thoroughly study the feasibility of such a move before taking any decision," he said. He evaded further questions on the topic.
He further informed that he has formed four committees - one each for railway policy formation, resource mobilization, to deal with IT initiatives and to discuss policy matters on FDI (foreign direct investment).
"Discussions on FDI policty formation and implementation are under way. We are looking to find the best ways to implement FDI in railways across the nation. FDI will only be in infrastructure and no one needs to be worried about it. There are doubts in some minds about the possibility of implementing FDI in railways operation and invasion of private sectors, but all this is not true. We will avoid private players and restrict FDI only to infrastructure," he said.
"The railway ministry is planning to establish railway universities, and already we have written to HRD minister Smriti Irani about this. There is already a railways training institute in Baroda and we are mulling to upgrade it to university. We will need at least two months to study the project and by December we should have a clearer picture. We also plan to start such universities in northern, southern, eastern and western parts of India," DVS said.
Stressing on the need for better coordination between the state and the central governments, he said, "Currently, only eight states including Karnataka are coordinating with the centre. I have written letters to CM of every state to coordinate with the centre to facilitate speedy implementation of projects. If the states can acquire land and share part of the project cost, the work can be completed faster. Most projects are pending because of lack of coordination."
Moving on to some of the projects in the pipeline, DVS said that Rs 150 crore has been alloted for the doubling of Mangalore-Bangalore track, and by 2016 the project would be ready and the train should run.
He however added that as the train passes via Hassan, it was necessary to execute doubling of tracks on Shiradi Ghat too, or there would be no difference between now and later in terms of travel time. He said the private sector should come foward for this to happen, as there are not enough funds.
On rail-port connectivity, he advised the Mangalore port to invest in laying new tracks or doubling the existing ones or bring in private players on their own. "The port, however, should give a share of the profits to the railways. Large amount of private investment is needed to boost railways," he added.
"As railway minister I have more responsibility now. The railway department officials have frequent interactions with the media. I do not speak often, but if there is anything to clarify, I speak to the media directly. Every activity of the railway department, every project and every proposal is told to the citizens through the social media, so we maintain transperancy. We have plans to completely digitalize the railways and make it paperless in three years' time," he said.
"The interim budget was well planned without giving any political preference or taking populist measures. I did sanction a few projects in the larger interests of the nation. Since it is an interim budget, one cannot expect everything. I will do better in the next budget. The priority is on deliverance, and I want to see at least 70-75 percent of the plans in the interim budget implemented in the next six months. The projects sanctioned were well thought out, and stress is on transperancy, and that is why our focus has been on incorporating more technology in the functioning of the railway department," he said.
"Every week two hours are spent on discussing implementation of the budget. I have instructed the DRMs and GMs to fortnightly discuss the sanctioned projects and submit status reports regularly. I want to take all officials into confidence for swift implementation of projects and to reshape the railways," he added.
When a reporter pointed out that there were demands to make Mangalore-Bangalore Kudla Express overnight service instead of a day service as planned, he said, "Give me one year, I will sanction a direct train exclusively for Mangalore-Bangalore."