Railway passenger committee set to meet CM Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: Railway passenger committee members have said that they would meet Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to address to issues of lack of roads in the Kalyan and Kasara to Karjat stretch.

Lata Argade, from the Railway Passenger Association (RPA), who lives in Dombivli and faces the issue of trains arriving jam-packed from far off suburban stations, said, “After our meeting at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) headquarters on Saturday, we have concluded that while the railway officials sort out immediate issues, we will approach cm Devendra Fadanavis and discuss improving roads in suburbs like Titwala, Badlpaur etc.” She further added, “A lot of times, as in Titwala, Badlapur and Diva which saw riots last year, people do not have an alternative road transport. My association had written to the state authorities few months back to no avail, while the need is urgent.”

In Badlapur incident in August last year, commuters had held a rail-roko for over six hours. Passenger committees said that those who didn’t participate in it were stuck as there were no other services available and auto-rickshaws were charging up to Rs 600 to ferry passengers for a mere distance of 3 km.

Activist Vishwanath Dhatrak said that almost 10-15 associations will be brainstorming over the demands which would be submitted to Mr Fadnavis soon. He said, “There are many demands, like for toilets and foot-over-bridges but our focus will be for him (CM) to get the road connectivity in that area improved”. They have said that they will be looking into improving services in these suburbs by plugging gaps in services.