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MANGALORE: Mangalore Railway Development Committee has appealed to the new Union minister for railways MallikarjunKharge to establish a separate Railway Division, headquartered at Mangalore, without any delay as it is already hampered the progress of coastal Karnataka.

A delegation of the committee has met Kharge at his residence in the presence of Oscar fernandes, Union Minister for Surface Transport in Delhi. The delegation led by committee convenor PV Mohan, Moideen Bava, Mangalore North MLA and KCCI member Praveen Bangara discussed various issues concerning the railway development in Coastal Karnataka.

"We have urged the railway minister to give due consideration while implementing Railway projects in Karnataka. Coastal Karnataka has been neglected and meted with stepmother treatment by former railway ministers. Establishment of Railway Division at Mangalore is a long pending issue. Mangalore Railway is a hundred-year-old terminus and has all the eligibility for the creation of a Division. The people of this region are agitating for this cause for a decade. Apart from this Mangalore is still deprived of having trains to the internal part of Karnataka like Hubli, Gulbarga, and Shimogh," Mohan said.

At present Mangalore is not having a direct train to Bangalore, Mohan said. "We have urged the minister to convert the weekly train to Bangalore, which was announced (not started), in the Railway budget 2013 into Daily Train. Speedy completion of Mangalore-Bangalore via Shravanbelgola railway line, survey for doubling of Mumbai- Mangalore line and Bangalore-Mangalore line, Survey for new railway line to Shimogh via Kundapur are the other demands of the committee," Mohan said.