Railways blame state for not giving the go-ahead, BJP attacks govt
@hepzia
Mumbai: Special rail services from Mumbai to Konkan for the upcoming Ganesh festival has become a bone of contention for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) using it as a whipping stick against the ruling Shiv Sena. Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Bandra, Ashish Shelar on August 13 tweeted about the lack of planning and coordination in the MVA on operating Ganpati special trains for Konkan region.
The Ganeshotsav commencing on August 22 is a popular festival in the Konkan region during which many Mumbaikars travel back to their hometowns. While the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has scheduled over 3000 buses from August 6 till August 12, the state is yet to permit special trains there.
Even as Shelar and other BJP leaders like Balchandra Shirsat tweeted their displeasure, the Central Railway issued a clarification that it was all set along with clearances from Railway Board to start rail services for Konkan but was awaiting go-ahead from the Maharashtra government. “Railways are ready to run the specials subject to all the norms including social distancing, etc.
However, senior officials of state government of Maharashtra informed on telephone on the night of August 8 to keep on hold the schedule of running of special trains as the matter is under re-consideration of Maharashtra government and said that they would advise the outcome. Since then railway administration – both at Board and zonal level – are in continuous touch with Maharashtra government officials and have been awaiting to go ahead,” a Central Railway press release informed.
Currently due to Covid-19 pandemic, the railways are running services only as per the request of respective state governments. With Mumbai registering highest Covid cases in India, opening up of unhindered transportation services has sparked concerns of carrying the virus to the coastal belt, which has seen reasonably lower cases of Covid. In fact, a government order seeking ban on entry of Mumbaikars to Konkan during the festival had gone viral sparking threats of protest from BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Narayan Rane.
However, later the ban order was refuted by Shiv Sena’s Member of Parliament (MP) from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Vinayak Raut, who clarified that Mumbaikars could travel after following necessary testing and quarantine procedures.
Shelar stated that the train services to the district’s in Konkan region were critical due to heavy rains and huge craters having developed on the highway making road travel difficult. As per the state government protocol, those boarding state transport buses till August 12 would have to undergo 10 days of quarantine on reaching Konkan and those travelling post August 12 would have to undergo swab tests for Covid before being allowed to board.
The restoration of the Mumbai locals too has been another contentious issue. A delegation of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh met state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari recently demanding access to various working groups like private health clinic staffers, members of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), pharmaceutical industry workers and even staffers of co-operative sector banks into Mumbai’s local trains.
