Mandal's revelry proves costly for rlys

A Shahupuri-based Ganesh mandal's celebrations may prove costly for the railways this year as it sets up a pandal in front of the station gate each year.

A railway official has said that if the road is blocked this year, the repair work of around 250 coaches will be suspended for 12 days. This will pose a risk as it will involve running trains on trollies without any maintenance work. All the wheels used for carrying the coaches are imported from around three to four countries and are highly costly, a railway official said.

A city-based railway official said that the issue was not taken up seriously because the trollies generally sent from Kolhapur to the Lower Parel workshop for repair were not very expensive. "An audit report has, however, revealed that during ganesh festivals each year, technical staff in Kolhapur based at the integrated overhauling depot cannot get any work done as the road is blocked. The railways end up paying them without any work and there is a risk involved in running the coaches without proper maintenance," an official said.

Last year as well, a few trucks could not make their way out of the workshop because of the pandal. The trucks carry railway coach wheels and the obstruction causes delay in repair work.

The Shahupuri Yuvak Mandal shares a compound with Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Terminus has been setting up the pandal at the same site since 1978. The railway officials have written a letter to the Shahupuri police station requesting them not to permit the mandal to set up the pandal without a no objection certificate issued by the railways.

Praveen Chougule, the police inspector of the Shahupuri police station has said that he had received such a letter from the railways. "I will allow the mandal to set up the pandal as per the law. My primary duty is to allow the pandals on areas where vehicular movement cannot be affected," he said.

Kolhapur Lok Sabha member Dhananjay Mahadik also wrote letters to the divisional railway manager in Pune, district collector and Shahupuri police station over the issue. The area used for pandal erection is a public property and so the railways should review their demand of not erecting the pandal at all, Mahadik said.

Ramesh Pawar, the Shahupuri Yuvak Mandal chairman said that the mandal has been installing the pandal at the same site since 1978. "The mandal is known for seeking all the requisite government permissions which means we are law abiding citizens. The railways should have communicated in summer so that there could have been some solution to the problem. We cannot cancel our pandal now as payments have already been made. We cannot retract it now," he said.