M'shtra: Committee to improve rail net

Thane, Mar 29: The Thane District Railway Passengers Association (TDRPA) has today urged the government to set up a committee to study the various issues faced by the district, which has already crossed the one crore mark in population, with a view to improve the rail network.

Addressing a news conference here today, the founder President of the Association Om Prakash Sharma said that the demand for the bifurcation or trifurcation of the district was a past history. Now the situation in the district has undergone drastic change and the population has become alarming. A serious thought should be given to the entire issue and resolve the same on priority, else the situation will explode, he warned.

He said that if the government was not in a position to appoint any such committee for the study, the Association would undertake the same as it had the resources and submit the report to the government for its action.

He further said that there were two different demands for linking of various sections within the district and with its various counterparts to improve the lot of the tribals.

One was the Dahanu-Nashik rail link which has been collecting dust for several years. In fact, a survey was even done for the same but the entire project has been kept in cold storage and no one is serious about the same. The second one was the Kalyan-Ahmednagar rail link. This is still in the primitive stage and no leader is interested in pushing it through, Mr Sharma said.

The two other demands which have cropped up now, pertain to the Talwada-Kalyan which will cover a hundred kms distance and link the tribals with the urban population, he said adding that there is also a suggestion for a Vasai-Ambadi shuttle service which will be of immense help to the lakhs of villagers who move around in the district.

He said that the district, which is considered to be a unique one, has on several occasions faced several issues in various forms, be it the demand for bifurcation, malnutrition, epidemic and others.

But to improve the economic condition in the district it is absolutely essential to have a master plan with time line without which the things will never improve, he said, and added, if we ignore the signals now, we will surely repent later.

Mr Suresh Diwedi, former Additional District Judge, former Chief Commercial Manager of CR Ashok Trivedi, former senior officer of the CR Deen Dayal Satija, former planning Engineer of the CR Pawan Kumar Ghosh were also present in the conference.

UNI