Bloomers galore at Rly function

Bloomers galore at Rly function
DH News Service, Bangalore:

Bloomers marked the talk of every speaker at the function organised to lay the foundation stone for widening the road under bridge at Beniganahalli. The manner in which Minister of State for Railways R Velu (from Tamil Nadu) pronounced the names of districts in Karnataka had the audience in splits.

The politicians and officials seated on the dais were seen trying to suppress their laughter. Velu also lauded the persistent pressure shown by Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways K H Muniyappa to obtain permission for projects he desired, by jocularly referring to him as “a crying baby.”

Velu remarked, “Whatever you give Muniyappa, he will cry. And then you have to give him more and more. When I think of Muniyappa, I do not get sleep in the night!” He also referred to K R Puram station as R K Puram, causing a bit of confusion around.

Earlier, MLA S Raghu referred to Minister Velu as Baalu (another Union minister from Tamil Nadu in the Central cabinet) and then corrected himself. Two of the speakers on the dais also made this rather uncalled for remark about Minister Velu: “Despite being a Tamilian, he has done a lot for Karnataka!”

On the progress made by the Railways in customer care, Velu said, “The call centres handle calls from five lakh customers per day. It operates round-the-clock, in 11 languages.”

Velu began the speech by greeting the people on `Maha Shivaratri’ in Kannada, a gesture that went down well with the audience. S Raghu requested the minister to go in for faster communication facilities for Bangaloreans.

The function was organised by the South Western Railway and National Highways Authority of India, to lay the foundation stone for the widening of the Road-Under-Bridge (RUB) on National Highway-4, below the Bangalore-Salem Railway Line at Beniganahalli.

PROJECT IN A NUTSHELL

Total project cost: Rs 50 crore (approx)
Present position: Two traffic lanes below the bridge
Proposed plan: Widening and converting the road under the bridge into a six-lane route
Phase - I Project cost: Rs 7.30 crore, completion period: 18 months
Configuration: Two boxes of 9 X 5.5 metres each to be constructed on either side of the bridge.
Phase-II Project cost: Rs 30 crore; completion period: 24 months.
Configuration: Single clear vent of 30 metres of six-lane traffic with central median. (Yet to be ap proved)
Other miscellaneous expenses.