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Yelling around the deaf ears of Indian Railway authorities
Bhatkal: For some people, the idioms such as 'yelling on a dead body' and 'yelling around deaf ears' don't make much sense, but for the people of Bhatkal, these idioms are not only understandable but under phrased than the reality around them. If you don't understand the meaning of these idioms, ask the people of Bhatkal who are yelling around the extraordinarily deaf ears of the Indian railway authorities since the last 2 years that too to solve a problem which would have been easily solved by the railway authorities long ago. But the ignorance from the authorities makes one wonder whether the authorities have a grudge against the citizens of this town....
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In this fateful period, the Indian railway has seen -not one- but four different ministers but unfortunately all four seem to have taken their office with that 'deafness' for the people of this region.
The people of Bhatkal are not demanding to rebuild the existing railway station nor are they asking for an expansion. They are not demanding a special train nor are they appealing for better trains. What they are asking for is a halt of some minutes of a certain train at their station so that they may board it and commute on it and this request to halt the train for some minutes is waiting for approval since the last 2 years.
The Mumbai CST Mangalore junction express train 12133/12134 started running on July 2 2011 creating an easy option for people of coastal Karnataka to travel to Mumbai. The train has halts in Kumta and Udupi, Surathkal and Byndoor but does not halt in Bhatkal. The people of Bhatkal have been demanding a halt at their station since the last 2 years.
Ironies above ironies
Countless letters and memorandums have been sent to the DC, the railway ministry and even to the office of the prime minister, the demands of public which he forwarded to the railway authorities were even endorsed by the Minister in charge, the Konkan railway officials, the railway minister himself, state railway minister and the minority affairs ministry. But despite these endorsements and countless appeals and memorandums, the railway ministry has portrayed a very good example of the 'deafness' of an ignorant authority.
Some ironies make the railway ministry look even more foolish than people consider it. For instance, the train in question is halting at the Kundapur station which is 30 KMs away from Udupi and 40 KMs away from Mookambika road station. Even though these both stations have scheduled halts for the train, the officials deem it unfit to make a halt at Bhatkal. The trains is halting now at 4 stations within the distance of 30 Kms but still not halting for some minutes at Bhatkal.
What makes this issue a test of foolishness for the railway authorities is the following facts which can be considered ironies above ironies.
1.Surprising as it may sound, the highest number of passengers from the coastal Karnataka, who commute on the said train and who go to the CST are from Bhatkal.
2. In a country where the government is said to be trying to provide cheap and good travel options especially in the railway, this lack of halt has resulted in the meaningless lose of lakhs of Rupees of Bhatkali citizens. How? In order to board the said train, the traveler has to spend an extra amount of nearly 600 hundred Rupees to travel to the nearest halt which is Byndoor. And he has to do that with his luggage and sometimes family members or friends who come to help him board the train or see him off. Is it not an irony that the fair to CST Mumbai is lesser than the amount a Bhatkali passenger has to spend in order to get to the station a few kilometers away? And that too because the railway authorities can't schedule a single halt for the convenience of people?
Mr. Syed Hasan Barmavar, a prominent social worker of Bhatkal says that he has sent more than 50 letters for this cause to the offices of various officials. -Even though we managed to get endorsements and approvals, the concerned railway authorities have still not scheduled a halt at the Bhatkal railway station. -Now we have decided to approach the court of law to settle this issue.- He added.