“I have raised the issue and have been writing letters to the Ministry seeking for separate division but the Ministry has said that realising the same may not be possible now as there is paucity of funds.
Hence I have demanded for inclusion of Mangalore either in Mysore or in Hubli division,” said the MP adding that a movement will be started if nothing materialises in this regard.
Addressing the Railway meeting held under his presidentship, on Monday, Kateel took up some of the issues which have been carried forward over several meetings in the past and tried to give a push to the works
Long pending Padil-Bajal Railway Under Bridge (RUB) issue raked up heated discussions as the MCC and the Railway officials remained passing the buck at each other.
Despite holding several meetings in the past the issue has remained unresolved and on Monday as well, the MCC officials said that there were some confusions pertaining to the preparation of the estimation.
However clarifying the same, Palghat Divisional Senior Engineer Nallamuthu Manikyam said that since the initial proposal was to start the project on 50-50 stake between MCC and Railways, both the MCC and the Railway department have to make their own, separate estimates.
When the MP intervened, MCC Executive Engineer Rajashekar said that the MCC will prepare its estimate by Tuesday evening itself. Railways agreed to get the estimation ready in a week.
With regard to Jeppu-Mahakalipadpu under bridge, Rajashekar said that a sum of Rs 2.5 lakh was given to a surveying agency named 'rights' to conduct a survey and submit a report.
However, months have rolled down but the agency has not conducted the survey.
Responding to the same the MP said that a notice should be issued against the agency at the earliest and in case the agency fails to take up work within 15 days, then action should be initiated against the agency by the Municipal Commissioner.
Raising objection to the dominance of Malayalam, Nagarika Hitharakshana Vedike President Hanumanth Kamath said that though Mangalore is the last stop for Matsyagandha, the name board is written in English, Hindi and Malayalam.
There is no Kannada language. The train from Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal (Mumbai-Karwar) was extended till Mangalore and it was supposed to come to Mangalore Central. However in the IRTC Bhopal Meeting it was decided to take it to Mangalore Junction citing lack of space as the reason. Surprisingly, an inter-city train between Mangalore-Palakkad which also comes to Mangalore Central on the same schedule got space at Mangalore Central itself, showing how strong the Malayalam lobby is working in Mangalore.
Water woes seem to have hit the Railways too. During the meeting officials urged the MCC to provide adequate water at Mangalore Central in specific because apart from being a station, the central railway station is used by the department to shunt the trains and to clean the wagons too.
“Though our station consumption is high we have asked for five lakh litres per day. There is acute shortage of water and we urge the MCC to give us the required quantity of water without any interruption,” the officials said.
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