Today (07:49) Jaffer Sharief: ‘Uni-gauge’ man who revolutionised railways (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
Jaffer Sharief: ‘Uni-gauge’ man who revolutionised railways (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) BENGALURU: For Karnataka which was neglected by railways for decades, C K Jaffer Sharief's tenure in the railway ministry is remembered as the golden period for the state.Sharief, 87, a Congress veteran died in Bengaluru on Sunday afternoon following brief illness. He was the Union minister of state for railways in 1980 when Indira Gandhi returned to power as the Prime Minister. Rail enthusiasts say Sharief was instrumental in modernization of the Indian railways during his tenure as Union railway minister from 1991 to 1995.They say his ambitious conversion of metre-gauge to broad-gauge has helped railways increase its carrying capacity. Karnataka was among the beneficiaries with about 1,000km gauge conversion works out of 6,000km sanctioned for the entire country during his tenure.Rail activists say Sharief also played a vital role in establishment of a new railway zone in Karnataka (South Western Railway), formation of Bengaluru railway division, Rail Wheel Factory in Yelahanka, Inland Container Depot in Whitefield and also turning Yeshwanthpur into the third railway terminal for Bengaluru, Railway Recruitment Board in Bengaluru and also introduction of more premium services like Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Express trains from Karnataka.“He was called ‘uni-gauge railway minister’ since he decided to convert metre-gauge, narrow-gauge into broad-gauge so that country can have one single gauge system and most of railway development happened during his time. His demise is a big loss to Karnataka” says rail enthusiast Deepak Ulli.“He was instrumental in rolling out many new trains like Chennai- Mysuru Shatabdi, Bengaluru- Hubballi Shatabdi (now it runs as Jan Shatabdi), Bengaluru- Delhi Rajdhani and Karnataka Express. Without his contribution we would have been stuck 30 years behind to the present context in terms of railway infrastructure” said S Yogendra, another rail fan."He introduced many trains which connected Bengaluru with other states and was responsible for the speedy conversation of Bengaluru - Guntakal and Bengaluru -Mysuru line into broad-gauge" says Krishna Prasad, a rail activist.“He was a visionary in initiating broad-gauge conversion across India during 1990's. He played key role in bringing important railway projects across Karnataka during his tenure with time bound implementation” said Sanjeev Dyamannavar, a commuter rail activist.Sherief also took the initiative of conversion of sections like Bengaluru-Guntakal, Bengaluru- Mysuru and Miraj- Hubballi-Bengaluru to broad gauge, construction of new lines like Chitradurga – Rayadurga and Mangaluru-Roha (Konkan railway) among the few. He also introduced several direct trains to various cities from Karnataka, construction of road over and road under bridges and renovation of several stations. In fact, he also took an initiative for the railways to conduct a techno-economic survey and the project report submitted to the state government for a suburban transport system for Bengaluru in 1983 later paved way for metro rail. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
