Thane railway plans in limbo

Despite the Congress-led UPA bagging three out of the four Lok Sabha seats in Thane district, the Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan’s wishlist for the reforms he expects with regards to railways, does not include a single project covering Thane district.

The state government in its memorandum to the union minister argues that the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik industrial belt is known as the Golden Quadrilateral. However, the reference omits Thane. Suresh Wandhile, public relations officer to chief minister, said, “Thane is well-connected by the railway network.”

Chavan has ignored his own promise of handing over 12 acres of surplus land adjacent to Kopri Bridge belonging to Thane Mental Hospital (TMH) taken up in January 2009. The railways need additional land for expansion of Thane station.

As an MP earlier representing Thane constituency, Anand Paranjpe was in favour of expansion of Thane railway station and upgrading it to the status of a terminus. But now, that he has won the election from Kalyan constituency, he is non-committal in his response.

BJP’s Chintaman Wanga had demanded starting a rail link between Dahanu to Nashik. Wanga wanted the tribal hinterlands of Palghar, Jawhar and Mokhada to be linked to rest of the state and country. Faizan Azmi, a local Congress leader from Bhiwandi on the other hand had demanded a rail link between Murbad-Ahmednagar and Vishak-hapattam arguing that the local powerloom produce can find markets across the country.