Mumbai: Commuters fume over delay in opening Ram Mandir Road station
WR officials said the station would not be opened on December 18 as well as they have not received any confirmation so far.
Mumbai: Commuters are upset over delay in opening the newly-built Ram Mandi Road railway station between Goregaon and Jogeshwari and there is a growing chorus for its immediate inauguration without waiting for any politician to do so.
Constructed at the cost of Rs 32 crore, this 37th suburban station on the Churchgate-Dahanu Road route of Western Railways was slated to be thrown open for public on December 3, but it was postponed till December 18.
However, WR officials said the station would not be opened on December 18 as well as they have not received any confirmation so far.
Kailash Verma, general secretary of Mumbai Rail Prvasi Sangh, said not only Ram Mandir Road station, but there are 12-odd projects which are ready but not being thrown open owing to non-availability of politicians.
A member of Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) of Western Railway zone, Verma asked, "Why we need ministers and netas to inaugurate a project of public amenity.
Why can't railway officers themselves do it or a common passenger can do it ? And when mantri ji (Suresh Prabhu) is easily available to inaugurate the toilets being built at the stations, then why is not available for such a big project?"
Blaming the delay on the "politics to please netas", Rajiv Singal, an activist and the member of Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) of Mumbai division of WR said there is the high possibility that few high profile netas are not available to grace the occasion.
"This is just because that some high profile netas seem to be not available to cut the ribbon. For the minister, one or two netas are more important than lakhs of passengers. God save this country," Singal said.
As per WR officials, the station is going to bring a huge relief for lakhs of office-goers and residents, mainly from Oshiwara, because they are currently dependent on bus or auto-rickshaw services for commute.
However, WR railway has denied that there was "much" delay in the opening of the station.
Chief PRO of WR Ravindra said, "We gave finishing touches to the works of passenger amenities at the station a couple of days back and we expect it would be thrown open very shortly."