Demand for a night train from Bangalore to Karwar was met after court direction
The three-year fight for a direct night passenger train from Bangalore to Karwar and its realisation through court intervention speaks a lot about the lack of will and unity among political leaders in Karnataka, said activists who fought for the demand.
“When the State needs a facility from the Union government, leaders in neighbouring States, be it Kerala or Tamil Nadu, cutting across party lines fight for it. The extension of the Yeshwantpur-Mangalore night train to Kannur is a classic example for this as till two days prior to the 2009-10 Railway Budget, it was supposed to get extended to Karwar,” Hanumanth Kamath, president of the West Coast Railway Passenger Association, Mangalore, said.
Irony
He said it was an irony that the Railway Ministry had to extend the train to Karwar from October 17 following directions from the Karnataka High Court, at a time when Karnataka had four ministers in the Union government: S.M. Krishna, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, M. Veerappa Moily, and K.H. Muniyappa.
Meanwhile, people from different walks of life from coastal Karnataka, who have settled down in Bangalore, have welcomed the extension of train services to Karwar. Bruhat Bangalore Hotel Owners’ Association president K.N. Vasudeva Adiga told The Hindu that the extension should have happened long ago. He said, “We actually need more than two night trains considering the number of daily travellers between the coastal districts and Bangalore.”
Combined efforts
Anil Hegde, technical adviser of the association, said the extension was a culmination of the combined efforts of the association, members of Parliament from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi-Chikmaglur, Nalin Kumar Kateel and K. Jayaprakash Hegde, and advocates R.V. Naik and Shankar Bhat of Bangalore.
“Our next demand is to bring Mangalore area under Mysore Division of SWR,” he added. Mr. Hegde said people would not allow termination and bifurcation of the train at Mangalore Junction as it would inconvenience thousands of regular travellers from Subrahmanya Road and Puttur to Mangalore and Mangalore towards Kasaragod and Udupi-Kundapur.
Meanwhile, a release from SWR here said the Yeshwantpur-Kannur Express will run with numbers 16517/ 16518 between Yeshwantpur and Kannur, whereas their extended services between Mangalore and Karwar will be numbered as 16523/ 16524.
via The Hindu Newspaper http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/activists-see-lack-of-political-will-for-rail-projects/article4019919.ece
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