Chief Secy, CR GM conduct inspection of harbour line

MUMBAI, JANUARY 13: State Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar accompanied Central Railway General Manager K B Shankaran on a tour of CR's slum-...

MUMBAI, JANUARY 13: State Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar accompanied Central Railway General Manager K B Shankaran on a tour of CR’s slum-infested harbour line on Thursday afternoon.

The inspection comes at a time when the State and Railways wrestle with who is to foot the bill for rehabilitating the slum dwellers.

Accompanied by senior officials from the division, the duo boarded a special inspection train at CST that took them up to Mankhurd railway station. There are over 25,000 slums on this 21-km stretch of track, which besides slowing down train speeds, have seriously affected track maintenance.

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“We were verifying the ground realities,” Bongirwar told newspersons at CST after returning from the inspection with the GM in the motorman’s coach of a local from Mankhurd.

Shankaran confirmed that this was the first such inspection by the Chief Secretary and that the issue of rehabilitation was yet to be resolved.

According to railway officials, the Railway Board is wary of footing even a part ofthe estimated Rs 500 crore it will entail to resettle the encroachers, for fear that it will set a precedent for the rest of the country.