When injustice and discrimination of Aurangabad by Indian Railways will end?

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?