Stakeholders have flayed the composition of Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (DRUCC) and also the proceedings on the grounds that the meetings follow a set-pattern of stock answers laced in railway lingo or jargon.
The DRUCC meetings are conducted every quarter but there is criticism that the committee is not adequately represented by all regions coming under the Mysuru division’s jurisdiction and hence, the demands and aspirations of people in certain areas goes unheard and unrepresented.
The Mysuru DRUCC meeting was held last week and a section of the members who attended it said that there was greater representation of Mysuru and surrounding regions in the committee. As a result, only issues related to Mysuru per se was discussed while the rest of the division did not get adequate attention.
Mr. Yogendra, member of Mysore Grahakara Parishat and an activist advocating increase in passenger amenities and seeking better rail connectivity, said some of the DRUCC members have not been changed since many years. ‘’Though representation is given to chambers of commerce or industries, the same set of people tend to get nominated and there is no rotation,’’ he said.
Calling for rectifying the lopsided representation of certain districts to the exclusion of areas in parts of central Karnataka region coming under the jurisdiction of Mysuru Divisional Railway, the stakeholders said the DRUCC should be reconstituted to bring more focus on areas where railways is underdeveloped.
A section of the DRUCC members also pointed out that important issues raised in the meetings evoke a stock and ready-made answers and the matter gets buried. ‘’The officials either deflect the responsibility by stating that it does not come under the purview of the Mysuru Division or say that the matter has to be decided by the zonal office etc. and the matter rests there,’’ said Mr.Yogendra.
Meanwhile, in the DRUCC meeting held last week, stakeholders representing the rail users sought additional passenger amenities and increase in frequency of certain trains plying in the Mysuru Division of the South Western Railway.
Mr. Rahul Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager highlighted the achievements of the Mysuru division during the financial years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 apart from listing out various initiatives were taken for infrastructure developments in various stations across the division.
The DRUCC members aired their demand for better passenger amenities at Davangere, Harihar and Haveri railway stations and wanted an increase in frequency of train services from Mysuru to Dadar, Ajmer and Nizamuddin from weekly and bi-weekly to four days a week.
In addition, they sought speeding up of all superfast train running in Mysuru - Bengaluru section, augmenting AC coaches in Malgudi Express running between Mysuru and Bengaluru and sought new train services connecting Mysuru with the coastal region of Karnataka via Hassan and Mangaluru.
