Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur

Kundapur, Feb 9: The Byndoor-Kasargod passenger train (56666/56665), which was announced in the last railway budget by the union government, was flagged off by former chief minister and current MP B S Yeddyurappa here on Monday February 9.

The train was inaugurated by union railway minister Suresh Prabhu from New Delhi simultaneously over video conferencing. It arrived at Byndoor station at around 6.15 pm where it was officially flagged off.

Addressing the gathering, Yeddyurappa called for better cooperation from the state government in developing railways in Karnataka, and said, "The state government should fully cooperate with the centre for the development of railways in Karnataka. When I was the chief minister, even though Congress was in power at the centre, I sanctioned 50 percent of the funds for rail development. It is regrettable that now CM Siddaramaiah has refused to carry foward this practice. If the earlier practice of sharing the funds is continued, the railway sector in this region will achieve growth."

He further said, "This train service will lead to the development of Byndoor, and will prove vital for pilgrims to Kollur from Kerala. Pressure will be put on union railway minister Suresh Prabhu to extend this train to Guruvayur and name it as Murali-Mookambika passenger train.

"When I was the chief minister and B Y Raghavendra was the MP, Rs 2.60 crore was sanctioned for the development of railway station here. The work is going on, and the union railway minister will be invited to inaugurate," he added.

"Mangalore port should be brought under Konkan Railway for the latter's growth. A proposal in this regard will be placed before the union government," Yeddyurappa said.

Udupi-Chikmagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje in her address said, "Karnataka is badly lagging behind in rail infrastructure. The state is facing several shortcomings in the provision of basic railway facilities. Karnataka's rail sector can achieve growth if the state government joins hands with centre. Despite being the lifeline of the coastal region, the Konkan Railway is running on loss. In order to save Konkan Railway and make it profitable, the Mangaluru port should be brought under it."

Zilla panchayat education and health standing committee president Gauri Devadiga, zilla panchayat member Babu Shetty, Suprita Deepak, Geetanjali Suvarna, taluk panchayat member Raju Poojary, Prasanna Kumar, BJP district president Tingale Vikramaditya Hegde and others were present.

The train service will officially start from Tuesday February 10. It was among the 9 trains inaugurated by Suresh Prabhu in Delhi on Monday.