Karnataka coastal Railway activists upbeat on ’Mangalore division’ with DVS as Union Min

Karnataka coastal Railway activists upbeat on ’Mangalore division’ with DVS as Union Min

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, May 28, 2014: Mangaloreans have always felt that they have been neglected when it came to the railways and the number of trains that pass through Mangalore and specially the conditions and development of the Mangalore Central. The allocation of the Union Ministry for railways portfolio to former Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, as a Minister with Cabinet rank comes as a boon for  DK, Karnataka and the BJP. A seperate "Mangalore Division" alienated from Pallakkad at present is a just expectation. The activists,  politicians and the traders’ representatives of the region hope that a few of the long-pending proposals of the region would get the Ministry’s attention and the stepmotherly treatment it has patiently borne will be vindicated. Indeed it is a happy day for Karnataka to see again a son-of-the-soil rising to the great position in Sadananda Gowda.

 

MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and several  aware and sensible people have been demanding the formation of the division by taking out  Mangalore railway areas from the Palakkad division. In fact, after the announcement of the LS poll results, Nalin Kumar had reiterated that his immediate priority would be forming the division, as reported by ’www.mangalore today’.

It must be recalled that D V S  Gowda, himself  had led two major protests against railways in Dakshina Kannada district on May 30, 2005 and November 24, 2007 demanding Railways to start passenger train service up to Subramanya Road (Nettana) and complete  gauge conversion between Sakleshpur and Subramanya Road on the Mangalore-Hassan line immeduiately and for the introduction of Mangalore-Bangalore train services. The bus lobby has been very  active still.

Nagarika Hitharakshana Samithi President Hanumantha Kamath said that expectations of people from the district from New Rly. Minister Sadananda Gowda and Kateel were justifiably high. The new NDAgovernment should take steps to review a tripartite agreement which is said to be a hindrance in operating more passenger trains between Mangalore and Bangalore, he said.

As reported in this web site a couple of days back, Udupi Railway Yatri Sangha President R L Dias said that creation of Mangalore railway division by including areas from Nethravathi/Ullal Bridge to Madgaon, and taking up the work on an alternative route via Nandikur Karkala-Charmadi-Mudigere should be given priority by the Railway minister. A proposal has already been submitted to the Railway Board by the Railway Yatri Sangha.

DRUCC Member (Mysore Division) Sudarshan Puttur said that along with creation of Mangaolore division, other demands like introducing a train from Subramanya to New Delhi, survey for Mangalore-Subramanya-Sullia-MadikeriKushalnagar-Mysore-Bangalo re, starting of a railway hub in Karnataka and electrification of Mangalore-Subramanya route, should be given priority.

Railway Yathri Sangha (Puttur) Technical Advisor Anil Hegde said that Mangalore railway division should be created under Konkan Railway Corporation. The KRCL has been demanding the attachment of the entire Mangalore railway network to it since its inception in 1998. However, the demand was never realised  inspite of the railway board fixing the jurisdiction of the KRCL upto Ullal end. Owing to lobby, the juridiction was fixed from Thokur which is not viable to the KRCL financially.” He said “Subramanya station should be developed as a terminal station, so that few more trains can be started from Subramanya. This will help in the optimum utilisation of Konkan railway route. After the conversion of meter guage into broad guage, Mangalore-Hubli Mahalaxmi Express was discontinued. The train should be reintroduced to give a broader connectivity. If Mangalore division is created, then Mangalore Central railway station will be automatically developed and any problems pertaining to the railways can be discussed at Mangalore .”Palakkad

 

Rly Division will cease to exist?  Mangalore’s  separation  from Palakkad, will  toll the death bell of this Kerala division. The division’s sole sustenance depends on the freight revenue from the Panambur region. It must be remembered, Tamil Nadu strongly pushed for separating Coimbatore out of Palakkad divison for years and in 2007 October, Salem division was formed, reducing Palakkad division by 623 km along with Coimbatore and a sizable part of earnings. Now at the other hand if  Mangalore is  to go and  reduce the Palakkad share  it may become extinct from the Indian Railway net work that has prospered for decades. A fair play is what the God’s seem to call for.

D V S - 8th railway minister from Karnataka.  Newly appointed  Union Minister for Railaways, DV Sadananda Gowda is the eighth railway minister from Karnataka since independence (1947). The earlier ministers were: HC Dasappa (Bangalore constituency) from September 21, 1963 to June 8, 1964; Cheppudira Muthana Poonacha (Mangalore constituency) March 13, 1967 to February 14,1969; Tonse Madhav Ananth Pai (Udupi constituency) July 30, 1979 to January 13, 1980; C K Jaffer Sharief (B’lore North) as Minister of State for Railways from January 14, 1980 to October 31, 1984; C K Jaffer Sharief as Cabinet minister from June 21, 1991 to October 16, 1995; Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) (Bijapur) as minister for state from September 9, 2003 to May 22, 2004; K H Muniyappa(Kolar) as minister of state on June 1, 2009 to October 28, 2012; Mallikarjuna Kharge (Gulbarga) from June 17, 2013 to May 17, 2014.

Pleasant surprise for brother and family:  DV Sadananda Gowda, the new union railway minister, has an interesting connection with his portfolio -his youngest brother DV Suresh, 52, is the station master at Nandikoor, near Mulki, about 35km from Mangalore.  Suresh said: "It seems like magic. I cannot believe it. He told me on Sunday he’d get a cabinet berth but didn’t say which portfolio he will get. On Monday morning he told me I may come to your department."

After completing his BCom at Vivekananda College, Puttur, Suresh, appeared for the Railway Recruitment Board examinations and was appointed assistant station master of Hubli in 1985. "I was looking on-the-job and appearing for competitive examinations. I passed the RLB exam and that’s how I landed in the railways," says Suresh.  In 2008, on deputation to Konkan Railways, he arrived at Nandikoor station. He married Chethana in 1996, and has two children, Swastik, who his doing first-year engineering at MITE, Moodabidri, and daughter Shravika, who is in Class X.

"I don’t expect anything from my brother for myself. Even when he was an MP, MLA and chief minister, I did not ask for any personal favours, and he also does not like my asking them. All I’d like is for him to work for the good of the local people too."