Email
Print
ShareBanglore: Kengeri division last witnessed infrastructure upgradation when it was included in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits in 2006. On Friday, Kengeri saw the inauguration of a new model railway station. The state-of-art platform has computerised passenger reservation counters, pay-and-use public toilets, automatic teller machines, upper class waiting rooms, a tiled platform and a much-improved facade.
What is lacking, however, is good connectivity by road. Once at the station, vehicle-owners will be hard-pressed to find parking space. And once you arrive at the platform, you'll find there is little space to park even your own self -- there are few seats. There are inadequate shelters and waiting rooms on platforms 2, 3 and 4. Local residents are concerned that homes adjoin the railway station; the upgradation of the station might mean a downgrading of their own lives.
Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration function, KH Muniyappa, union minister of state for railways, said, "To ease connectivity, railway under-bridges will be constructed at Kengeri Ring Road junction and at Durgapalya. We have already budgeted for this."
At the inauguration, residents requestedMuniyappa and the state rural development and panchayati raj minister, Shobha Karandlaje, and also member of Parliament DB Chandre Gowda to have more trains stop at the station, now that it has been upgraded.
A representative of the residents, P Gandhi, intervened as minister Muniyappa was speaking, requesting that the Tanjavur express (Mayiladuturai express), the Mangalore express, the Tippu Express, Jaipur and Ajmer express trains also halt at Kengeri. The minister retorted that people ought to be satisfied with what is offered to them, and that the metro rail, once completed, would help in easing congestion.
Muniyappa announced aprize of Rs50,000 to the Bangalore divisional railway manager, Akhil Agarwal, and his team.
