Aurangabad is centrally located
city in Maharashtra which is ideal to be ‘HUB’
for any transportation network. Aurangabad with population of about 1.5 million
is most important city in Marathwada region. The city elects 3 MLAs and 1 Member
of Parliament.
It has tremendous historical
importance and also called as “Tourism
Capital of Maharashtra”. Aurangabad has many major tourist attractions like
the world famous UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ajanta and Ellora Caves,
Daulatabad (Devgiri) Fort, Grishneshwar Temple, Bibi Ka Maqbara and many more. As
a result, Aurangabad attracts large number of Domestic and most importantly Foreign
visitors throughout the year. Devgiri was capital of Yadava Dynasty for almost
500 years while Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb spent last decade of his life at
Aurangabad.
Apart from tourism, for last 2
decades it has emerged as Automobile and
Manufacturing Hub as well. Many large international brands have opted for
Aurangabad as preferred place for manufacturing base.
In spite of being such an important
city for Maharashtra state due to strategic central location; lack of
connectivity has destroyed real growth potential of Aurangabad for decades.
Especially, Rail Connectivity of
Aurangabad with rest of Maharashtra is extremely poor and certainly need urgent
attention by Indian Railways. Ideally, Railways is a tool to reduce
regional imbalance and provide connectivity to neglected areas to drive growth
and development. However, in case of Aurangabad Railways played a role of villain
resulting in backwardness of entire Marathwada region. One can certainly blame
Indian Railways as one of the factors responsible for rising number of suicides
in the region.
Let us look at how Indian
Railways have done huge injustice about Aurangabad …
Aurangabad
– Nashik – Mumbai
Only major city
in Maharashtra with wich Aurangabad is connected via Direct Rail Route is
Mumbai. Aurangabad – Manmad –Nashik –Mumbai is the route which provide direct
link to Aurangabad with Capital of Maharashtra. However, only 4 daily trains run
on this route while none is end to end.
Aurangabad
– Pune
Aurangabad which
is among top 5 cities in Maharashtra has NO direct Rail Link with Educational and
Cultural Capital ‘Pune’. The distance between two cities by road is just 230km
while more than 600 passenger buses carry daily trips indicating huge potential
for rail link. But since independence, Indian Railways could not find a single reason
to connect these two important cities with each other with direct rail link. For
a distance which can be travelled by 4 hours easily; train journey takes at
least 8 hours due to use of longer rail route. Why there should not be a case
of “Willful Attempt to Destroy Regional Development”
against Indian Railways?
Aurangabad
– Nagpur
Aurangabad has
not direct rail link with Vidarbha region as well. Nagpur is not only one of
the most important city in Maharashtra but it has huge importance in
transportation sector due to strategic central location. Aurangabad which is
500 km which can be covered in 8 to 10 hours by road. However, Nandigram
Express which connects two cities via long route takes 16:30 hours to travel!
Isn’t it an insult of people living in Marathwada
region? Who is responsible? Why can’t we call it a “Scam” to sabotage Marathwada
and development prospect of Aurangabad?
Same is the case
with rail connectivity (or should we say
lack of rail connectivity) of Aurangabad with cities like Jalgaon,
Ahmednagar, and Latur. Aurangabad to Jalgaon
Road Distance is 160km (2.5 hours) while by Rail it takes 4:15 hours that too
with just one train connecting! Aurangabad-Ahmednagar
road distance is 115 km (maximum 2 hours) while Rail takes 4 to 7 hours
depending on train. Latur if connected
by Rail with Aurangabad can cover large part of Marathwada benefiting huge population.
Also, it will improve connectivity of region with South India.
The time has certainly come to change the situation, to remove the regional imbalance and give long deserving justice to entire Marathwada region. To do that policy makers, political leadership and Indian Railways must address the issue on priority. They must end their approach of discrimination towards Aurangabad. They must start treating people living in Marathwada as humans. Else, an effort by Iron man of India Sardar Patel for unification of India would remain only as concept on paper.
Aurangabad is
shouting for the justice, anybody listening?
You can also visit How to reach fastest to Mumbai from Nashik?
You can also visit How to reach fastest to Mumbai from Nashik?
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