Did railway minister Piyush Goyal dedicate incomplete works to people?

The incomplete footover bridge landing on the Prabhdevi station side

It appears that Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has dedicated some works on the Central Railway to commuters that are yet to be completed. On Sunday, Goyal had dedicated the new platform at Parel station, a footover bridge, etc, along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and a host of other ministers and officials, when they flagged off a new suburban corridor and trains.

A ground check by mid-day on Tuesday however, found that key passenger amenities on the new Parel platform, like an escalator and elevator are yet to be completed. Another project that was mentioned in the list of utilities in use in the dedication to the public on Sunday, was the Parel footover bridge, which also remains incomplete in a way, because one of its landings and pathways in the west side of Prabhadevi station are yet to be completed and opened.

"The Parel platform was thrown open to the public long ago. Will it again be dedicated in the name of Parel Terminus once the work is complete in the future? The footover bridge at Parel that extends to Prabhadevi is also incomplete. The new landing and the walkway on the Prabhadevi side is also yet to be opened," said a commuter Sanjay G, who has been following up the issue of Parel station.

'CR, WR don't work in sync'
"The new footover bridge neither lands on the old Parel platform, nor on the Prabhadevi station platform, and as of now is of no use to anybody. It will only be helpful when it is complete. The problem is that both the railways work solo and not in sync. This leads to a problem. If you want to travel from CR to WR, it is still the older narrow bridge at the south-end that is useful, no other bridge," another regular commuter, Rajani Ahire, said.

Commuter activist Subhash Gupta said that the railways should have shown respect to their own minister, and opened the escalator and elevator before putting it in his itinerary. "They should respect their own minister and complete the work, before getting it dedicated to the public by him. I am sure Goyal is not even aware of the fact that the local railway managers are fooling him and the public in this manner," Gupta said.

While local railway officials refused to comment on the record, they said works on the Parel and Prabhadevi stations are in progress and will be completed soon. While the new platform was getting refurbished to be converted into a terminus, the footover bridge was getting ready for new landings on the old platform with a lift and also on the Prabhadevi platform soon.

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