Minister’s promises yield no result
Politicians not bothered about providing basic infrastructure
K H Muniyappa, Union Minister of State for Railways, had assured, on his visit to the district recently, that basic railway facilities will be provided immediately, but none of them seems to see the light of the day.
He had also specified that all the problems in railway stations will be solved and the pending projects will be completed soon.
K P Bachegowda, MLA, Dr N Manjula, Deputy Commissioner, and Railway Agitation Committee leaders had borne witness to Muniyappa’s assurances.
The minister had directed the Deputy Commissioner and the MLA to start the works and also to make space to connect railway lines to Shidlaghatta.
Many days have passed since his assurance, but till now no project has been implemented. There are water taps in the railway station but not a drop of water is available. There is also no toilet facility. Though a separate ticket counter has been provided, ticket distributers are stressed out because of large crowds. Commuters complain that due to long queues they are not able to buy tickets before the trains arrive.
“When K H Muniyappa visited the railway station, we expected the problems to be solved soon. But there has been no change yet. I work in Bangalore and have to travel by train everyday. There are no shops around and even if I feel thirsty there is no way I can get a bottle of water”, says K Rajesh, resident of Bharathinagar, speaking to Deccan Herald.
“Let the project works be implemented in leisure. But preference should be given to provision of basic infrastructure. Thousands of people travel by train to various places daily. Adding to their woes is the fact that the station has just one ticket counter. There are always long queues, because of which, most of the people wouldn’t even have bought tickets by the time their trains arrive. People are forced to just barge into the trains and end up paying fine later,” he added.
“Crushed stones and cement beams are seen lying here for years. A large quantity of materials have been bought for implementing railway guage extention and other projects, without being utilised. If the projects had been completed on time, two underpasses should have been opened for the public by now. But the work is halted midway. Thus manual crossing system is still in use here. A staffer has been deployed to close and open the railway gate before the train arrives and after the train passes. We are still waiting for the work to restart,” says a member of Railway Agitation Committee.
