Karkala: Two major alternative railway projects, which pass through several major parts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, have remained as proposals for decades.
There was a proposal drafted, after demands from residents of coastal districts, for two railway lines: Padubidri-Karkala-Ujire-Dharmasthala-Nettana and Nandikur-Karkala-Bajagoli-Ujire-Charmadi.
As there was no response to these proposals by the Railways, the Udupi Railway Yatrikara Sangha (URYS) has decided to propose a new route from Ujire-Charmadi-Kottigehara.
In the 2010 Railway Budget, a survey was approved by then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Preliminary Technical and Traffic Survey and the Engineering cum Traffic Survey for about 120 kilometres between Padubidri, Karkala, Dharmasthala and Nettana was done for the new routes. However, no proposals for construction have come to the fore.
The demand for railway lines has been made as the three taluks of Karkala, Modabidri and Belthangady do not have railway connectivity. The construction of the railway line would also benefit pilgrims travelling to Dharmasthala.
Moreover, if the project is implemented, the journey from Kundapur and Udupi to Bengaluru, as an alternative railway line, will reduce the travel time between them by 4 hours.
The demands remained unmet even when later the Railways Minister was from the district here.
RL Dias, president of URYS said: "It is disheartening that the Railways have not worked on the demands. Since the existing proposals have fallen on the wayside, we are going to review some of the previous proposals for which an emergency meeting of the Sangha at Udupi on October 15 has been called.
