Renovated Dharwad rly stn waits for inauguration

Dharwad: The renovated state-of-the-art railway station in Dharwad is waiting to be inaugurated officially.
The renovation work was completed in September 2021 and some of the facilities like a foot over bridge, improved circulating area, platform, waiting rooms on the ground floor have been thrown open to the public, while retiring room, dormitory and new ticket counters among others are yet to made available for public use.
Union minister Pralhad Joshi, who is the Dharwad MP, evinced keen interest in getting the station renovated. He wants the renovated station to be inaugurated by Union railway minister Ashwinkumar Vaishnav and is waiting for the latter’s dates. “Ashwinkumar is expected to visit Dharwad in July and the station will be inaugurated soon,” said Hubballi-Dharwad West MLA ArvindBellad.
Passengers’ grievances
There were complaints from passengers travelling by Rani Channamma Express, Belagavi-Bengaluru Express and Sampark Kranti Express trains to Bengaluru that they were not being informed well in advance regarding the platform number on which the respective train will arrive. “The announcement about the platform comes just five minutes before the arrival of the train and passengers particularly women, children and senior citizens find it difficult to reach the specified platform with their luggage. Even the display boards do not function properly,” said Udaykumar Kottur, a retired forest official.
SWR Hubballi divisional railway manager (DRM) Arvind Malkhede told TOI that the problem will be sorted out. Aneesh Hegde, chief PRO, SWR said the renovated building constructed at a cost of Rs 19.5 crore shows a perfect amalgamation of modern architecture along with the culture of Dharwad. The new building provides umpteen elite facilities to the passengers such as separate AC and Non-AC waiting rooms for ladies and gents, separate AC and Non-AC dormitories for ladies and gents, retiring rooms, food plaza, café, shops and a tourist information centre.
The ‘Gurudev Corner’ on the western side of the platform 1 has been renovated and is being renamed as Ravindranath Tagore Vatika. A bust of Tagore and a plaque to commemorate the visit of Tagore to Dharwad Railway station will be restored.
ROB work on fast track
The work on construction of Railway Overbridge across the Kalyan Nagar gate is progressing at a fast pace. Prahlad Joshi had performed bhoomi pooja for the work in September 2021 and construction commenced after two months. So far nearly 50% of the work is over. The target for completion of the work is 18 months.
The estimated total cost of construction of ROB is Rs 13.79 crores and it has been sanctioned on a cost-sharing basis with Government of Karnataka.