Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (RJP)
Kundapur, Sep 27: Shobha Karandlaje, MP of Udupi-Chikkamagaluru on Saturday September 26 said that she would do her best to bring Mangaluru new port under Konkan Railway, as the latter is suffering from huge losses and the port would bring more profits.
Setting foot in Kundapur after a long time, Shobha Karandlaje visited Moodlakatte railway station on Saturday evening and held discussions with the railway officials and railway welfare committee. She also made many promises during the occasion.
The committee presented a number of demands and after listening to them, Shobha spoke to the officials regarding the complaints and demands. But instead of allowing officials to answer the questions, she answered them on their behalf, in their defence.
When she was told that phone calls made to the station went unanswered, she said telephone facilities at the stations have been withdrawn and toll free facilities have been introduced and there was a need to bring awareness on the same. When pointed out that there is no Kannada language option in the toll free facility, she said that the problem will be addressed.
When told that despite being the oldest sub-division station, the station has been neglected, Shobha said the Konkan Railway is presentaly under a loss of Rs 3,000 crore and the centre has not approved the development of stations. She said that central railway board is a 'cactus' and due to lobbies, Konkan Railway is suffering.
"Konkan Railway can earn profits only if Mangaluru's Panambur port is brought into its fold. I will do my best to make this possible. Only then we can think of platform extensions, introduction of new broad gauge track, upgradation of stations, and introduction of Dadar-Mangaluru train. Otherwise the same situation will continue," she said.
When the committee members told Shobha that the provision of the counter outside the station was hardly used and that it has become very difficult to get tickets even on holidays, Shobha took the officials to task and said "When the locals want to help you in providing basic facilities, why do you ignore those things? Why should the MP have to answer all the questions?"
Shobha then promised that all the problems will be addressed at the soonest and ended the interaction.
The officials had brought a machine to take out weeds outside the station after Shobha’s visit to the station was scheduled. This irked some locals. "Every month the MP should visit the station, so that it is clean," they said.