Mangalore: Now, Efforts on to Extend Another Train to Kerala!

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Jan 31: As is their wont, people’s representatives from Kerala have set into motion another attempt to get an additional train extended to their territory. Even as the Kannadigas in Mumbai and Mangalore continue to urge the government to extend Mumbai Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus – Mangalore Junction train to Mangalore Central station to help the people, leaders from Kerala have demanded the extension of this train to Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram. If the past records are of any indication, their request may well be granted.

A 16-member delegation comprising ten Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members from Kerala and MLAs, recently met union railway minister, Dinesh Dwivedi, and submitted a memorandum to him containing the above demand. The nomenclature of the train has already been modified into Mumabai Express from Mangalore Junction Express. It is being analyzed, and going by the previous successful record of parliamentarians and beaurocracy from Kerala, who are perceived to be having tremendous clout, that this demand will be met soon.

The two problems the passengers from the coastal districts of Karnataka will face if the train is extended are that the timings of the train will undergo a change, and it will be rendered almost impossible to get reservations for the people of Karnataka coast on this train. The present timings of the train are convenient for the people of Mangalore, and if it is extended, the train will most likely reach the city at around midnight.

A number of Kannadiga organizations based in Mumbai have already appealed to the railway minister against the move. The railway passengers are angry that the peoples’ representatives from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts have not been taking any interest to safeguard interests of their own people.

The railway users from the region insist that the unity exhibited by peoples’ representatives belonging to different political parties from Kerala need to be emulated by their counterparts in the coastal districts of Karnataka, who have among them, some influential representatives and ministers. They hope that these people will not wake up only when it is too late to act.