Myself, Naveen & Sanjeev met with Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Shri Rahman Khan. The meeting was arranged by Shri Maqbool Siraj via Syed. He grasped the concept & subject very well since he has been talking about similar initiatives for a long time. He also understood the need very well and we didn't have to convince him on the concept at all. We gave some indication on the approximate cost to be in the range of R2000 crores and upto R4000 crores for 250+ kms of service.
He was curious why the state govt is not taking that much interest in such a feasible & beneficial project. He also wondered aloud why already existing GoK/IR SPV's like K-Ride are not being utilized for this as they were set up with the very intention of giving state govts the ability to work together with Railways. We agreed State Govt should be taking this up with the railway board & Central govt more earnestly than they are.
He has asked his office to fix up a meeting with Smt Mamta Banerjee before the Railway Budget so he can get the proposal to be included in it. He will also try and convene a meeting with all Karnataka MP's which typically happens before parliament sessions & wanted one of us to make a pitch in Delhi.
Comments
Positivest meeting so
Positivest meeting so far
Thanks to Siraj & syed for arranging this and to all those who took time out from their weekend obligations for this cause. Especially Sanjeev's wife who waited in the car with kids for him to complete the meeting on the way to their personal work. Thanks to Srinidhi for printing copies of the report on short notice & delivering it to Shri Rahman Khans office since he had asked for more copies and we were out of prints.
Shri. Rahman Khan, Thank you!
On behalf of Praja, I would like to convey my speciall thanks to Shri. Rahman Khan, MP, Dy Chm, Rajya Sabha for giving us an opportunity to interact with him. We will look forward to his esteem support in seeing 'Namma Railu' a reality in coming months/years.
IDS, sanjeev, Naveen,
I am glad that at very short notice, you all were able to make it to the meeting. The appointment confirmation was received only by Friday evening. I know Saturday being weekend and in spite of all other engagements, you could spare some time to meet Shri. Rahman Khan.
Srinidhi, thank you for your timely help in getting the reports to Rahman Khan at short notice.
My special gratitude to Mrs. Sanjeev for sparing Sanjeev for the meeting :)
You know we all owe a speciall gratitude to our spouses for the understanding, support and patience in our endeavors with Praja.
-Syed
Meeting was In a Right Direction for Commuter Rail,
Thanks to Siraj & Syed for organising the meeting with Mr Rehman Khan, MP, Dy Chym Rajaya Sabha.
He was very positive on the Commuter Rail as Sathya explained in detail and he is well aware of the area NAMMA METRO will cover and limitation of PT by Road with with Road widening.
Thanks to Sathya & Neevn beeing their on time as I was bit late. Thanks to Srinidhi for making the report copies available with Mr Rehman Khans office.
Its good Team effort from Praja galu , every one contributing directly or indirectly in the process for getting the Commuter Rail project.
Hope CM takes up strongly with Center & Railway Minister Demanding the Commuter Rail Project. for Bangalore. When he has allocated Rs 500 crore in the State Budget 2010 and openly requested MoS for Railways K H Muniyyyappa, if he is not making efforts, then he is fooling Bangalore Citizens.
CRS still needs pushing !
This meeting went very well, indeed - thanks to Syed for organizing it. Hope Mr Rahman Khan is able to get this off the blocks with MPs.
Many parties are now taking up this issue now as it has become obvious how much it is needed. The state's top politicians have been doing very little due to the uncertainty with government's 'survival'.
Game is not over until the last ball is bowled!
Game is not over until the last ball is bowled! That's the famous saying in Cricket. It is no different for CRS or any other project.
Naveen is absoluteley right when he said the CRS campaign is not done yet. It still has lots of hurdles to cross. First major milestone would be getting mentioned in Railway budget.
Even then it needs pushes from right quarters until, an implementing authority like BMRCL is established and necessary autonomy is provided for actions to be on auto pilot mode.
We have miles to cross on CRS.
BTW, this is not to dicourage or undermine the enormous efforts that has been put in by NR team and others. But to point to the challenges that have been overcome and many that needs to be overcome.
Good Move - MPs are the key here.
Good news. Looking at this, I think we need to catch hold of MPs of towns wherever Namma Railu is planned such as Bangarpet, Ramanagaram, Hosur and Tumkur.
We could get in touch with Tumkur MP.
Meeting Ex-Chief Minister Mr. Kumarswamy in the perspective of Ramanagaram could help us here. He got the doubling done till Ramanagaram quickly which now is getting doubled till Mysore. Also, Mr. Kumarswamy wants to compete with NICE, commuter rail might be a solution for him.
Same way, we should catch hold of Hosur, Bangarpet, Chikkaballapur and Doddaballlapur etc.