Thursday, May 28, 2009

A LETTER TO THE RAILWAYS.

Few days back I have written a letter to the railways regarding the facilities and problems in chittoor railway station and got the reply. Take a look

I wrote:

“Sir,
It is to bring to your notice about severe problems being faced by passengers in Chittoor (CTO) railway station.
1. With electrification and diverting of number of north-south bound long distance trains, the facilities at the station remain the same. First of all the signage indicating station name or not proper on platforms 2/3. No one can identify the station name unless u get down to platform and check for the age old british style station name attached to electric pole. Why are new diamond shaped orange on white display boards not provided, and they are not going to cost a lot.

2. Why there are no platform shelters on platforms 2/3. Though work is started it is going in a snail’s pace. sir i have witnessed no of passengers including women ,waiting impatiently under scorching sun and sometimes rain with their children and luggage in hands, many a times seen cursing the authorities for their fate.

3. Ypr-howrah, Rameshwaram-Okha and cape-cstm(one way) are presently not having stoppage at cto. We request you to provide the stoppage for these trains as soon as possible for the benefit of passengers from chittoor. Okha express is imp for all those who travel to shirdi.

4. Sir, it has been a long standing demand of the residents of chittoor to extend the FOB towards bus station. Chittoor being an important transit point for 3 states(one of the biggest busstations in AP), many a people get down at cto station and travel to their respective destn by bus. Just because of not extending the FOB to another platform, they have to travel a round about of 3 kms or pay Autos an amount 0f 20-40 Rs.

5. Lastly, as the express trains stop just for a minute or two it is getting very difficult for us to find out the coach position. Most of the long distance trains arrive at night and present coach indicator boards are never lit or never correct. With increasing revenues from cto station plus consider installing LED based coach indicators, at least on platform 1.

sir, we request you to look in to the matter immediately and bring to the notice of concerned authorities and resolve above problems for the benefit of passengers.”

After 10 days I got the reply from Asst General Manager-South Central Railway, through Asst Divisional Railway Manager –Guntakal:

“Sir,
In reference to AGMs letter cited above pertaining to subject matter, it is informed that


1. Signage boards are essential for passengers to identify the stations easily while on train. These are planned to be provided at Chittoor station by June.


2. Cover Over Platform on 2 & 3: A total length of 55 meters is already planned and foundation work is also completed. This work will be completed by June.


3. Stoppage of Yeshwanthpur-Howrah, Rameshwaram-Okha and Kanyakumari-Mumbai (one way)Express trains at Chittoor: Proposals with justification have already been sent to headquarters office at Secunderabad for consideration as this issue doesn't fall under the purview of division.


4. Already Steel Foot over Bridge connecting PF-1 and PF-2 & 3 is provided at Chittoor. Extension of FOB to the opposite side of the station may cause hindrance for the free movement of Lorries in the loading area. However pathways are provided at both the ends of platforms for easy passage of passengers. Extension of FOB towards new bus stand side will be examined in due course.

5. The works on Train information boards and coach guidance/coach indication boards is proposed to be taken up in the next financial year.

Railway administration would like to thank you for bringing important issues of this nature to our notice.

Yours sincerely,
Addl. Divisional Railway Manager, Guntakal.”

More over tenders have been called on 02-04-2009(Indian Express, Deccan Chronicle) for installing electronic LED based coach guidance boards in Chittoor and Kodur(Kadapa Dist). Tenders have been finalised and allotted on 11-05-09.

What do you say folks? See, proper representation and questioning itself can do some works. Then what are our elected representatives doing?
Let us hope all Govt departments are as responsible as railways.

Venkatesh Chitturi.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

YOUR PARTICIPATION REQUESTED

Dear friends, I want you to actively participate in this blog.Have you appreciated the photo feature on railway station?Then we can do more such
posts which are more appealing than just words.I request you to send me any photos of problems faced in chittoor. Mail them to my email id. i will prepare a photo feature using them and will use your name itself as the contributor.
Hoping for your good response.

Venkatesh

Saturday, May 23, 2009

An Appeal for the sake of Chittoor. ఒక విన్నప౦.

So far so good. Till now about 410 hits were received for this blog. But sad part is that only 5 have responded by mailing me. Thanks to Chaitanya, Srikanth, chava kiran, sudheer reddy and Sunil for their prompt response. Remember folks, this is not for any commercial purpose. This is for all who are born, brought up, and love Chittoor and wish to do something for it.

Daily i spend hours in front of the net googling about chittoor to find about news of any kind of development activities for chittoor. Whenever i find any, my heart jumps with joy n i can sleep that night heart fully. I try to email the problems in chittoor to concerned departments hoping for atleast a small response. Most of them remain unanswered (bloody bureaucracy), but few respond, which i will notify you through this blog. I do so many other things too, by writing, mailing to press, officials etc only in the hope of doing something for chittoor.

జీవిత౦ లో పైకిరావడ౦, అభివ్రుద్ది చె౦దడ౦ మనక౦దరికీ ముఖ్య౦. కానీ మన విలువయిన జీవిత౦లోని కొన్ని క్షణాలని కన్నతల్లి లా౦టి మన జన్మభూమి కోస౦ కేటాయి౦చడ౦ కూడా అ౦తే ముఖ్య౦. మన ఈ ఆలోచన మన ఊరి కోస౦ కాస్త౦త ఉపయోగపడినా మన౦ రుణ౦ తీర్చుకున్నట్లే. పై చదువులకో లేక ఉద్యోగానికో వేరే ప్రదేశానికి వెల్లి కొ౦త కాల౦ తరువాత సొ౦త ఊరు వచ్చిన వాళ్ళు అబ్బో మా ఊరు ఎ౦త మారిపోయి౦ది అనడ౦ వి౦టూనే ఉ౦టా౦. కానీ మనకు సిగ్గు రాదు. ఎ౦దుక౦టే ఎ౦త కాల౦ తరువాత వచ్చినా మన ఊరు ఏ౦ మారదు కాబట్టి. మన ఊరు అట్టే ఉ౦దబ్బా అనుకోని ఊరుకోవడ౦ మన చిత్తూరోల్లకి అలవాటైపోయి౦ది కాబట్టి. మనలో పౌరుష౦ చచ్చిపోయి౦దా? మనకే౦టి అని ఊరుకు౦టే, మనల్ని మన౦ మోస౦ చేసుకున్నట్లే. మన కర్తవ్యాన్ని మన౦ విస్మరి౦చినట్లే.
ఇది నా ఒక్కడి మాట కాదు, మీకూ అలానే అనిపిస్తూ ఉ౦టు౦ది. కానీ కాసేపు బాధపడి ఊరుకు౦డి పోవడ౦ వల్లే ఇ౦త దాక వచ్చి౦ది. మీ ఊర్లో ఏము౦దిరా, అభివ్రుద్ది లేక పాడుబడినట్లు ఉ౦టు౦ది అని మిగిలిన వాళ్ళు వెక్కిరిస్తు౦టే ఎప్పటికీ చూస్తూ ఉ౦డిపోదామా?????

Many of us from chittoor are successfully, pursuing our studies and careers in and out of our country. We are seeing the light of our day. We wish everyone from chittoor to achieve success in their own fields and prosper. We also wish they could spend few minutes thinking why chittoor is in its present fate and what could be done to change it. We chittooreans have remained complacent for ages, remaining indifferent to everything happening to chittoor. I hope our generation doesn’t remain the same. We can at least thrive to create awareness among ourselves and our friends and do our best for chittoor.

Chittoor’s people are famous for our Pride, our Versatility, our Humour, our Anger, our own way of speaking Telugu with a tinge of Tamil. But deep down inside, we feel betrayed about our hometown being left out like an orphan in our state. We burn with feeling when we watch chittoor remaining the same since many years. What happened to the chittoor pride and anger? Why are we still complacent? Let us do something. Think of anything which might help our Chittoor. Remember even the mighty ocean starts as a rain drop only. Who knows our efforts might one day payoff and we might become the building blocks for the transformation of chittoor. Lets Unite for this noble cause.

JAIHIND.

Mail me at ctrivenkatesh@gmail.com

Friday, May 22, 2009

Problems persist in railway station.


In my earlier article i wrote proudly that railway authorities have promoted chittoor station to A class. But a recent visit to the station revealed the dark side of the reality. Some basic necessities are missing which are very annoying and creating a lot of trouble to the passengers.
A picture speaks better than 1000 words.So i have prepared an unique pictorial & descriptive presentation of just two problems for starters. Check them out in the above picture(click to enlarge).

Now what do you say. There are many other grievances which goes like this:

1. In spite of being a major station, the following trains are not provided halts in chittoor station viz: Yeshwanthpur-Howrah, Rameshwaram-Okha(For shirdi passengers) and Kanyakumari-Mumbai(one way)Express trains, though they pass through chittoor.

2. Cover over platform is still nonexistent on platforms 2/3. The long due works are just now started and are planned just for 32 meters. This should be extended to a length of 80 metres keeping future growth projections.

3. No coach indication - coach guidance facility is provided. It is very difficult to reach the exact coach without knowing where it stops. The trains stop only for a minute or two and people have to run for their respective coach within this time.

4. Long queues are seen at any time in front of reservation counter. This can be easily solved by providing atleast another counter.

5. The long standing demand of a chittoor-chennai train is also over due.

What is lacking is the proper representation of the problems to the railway authorities, and the apathy of guntakal division officials.

Now dear chittoreans, Do you feel concerned? Want to do something regarding this?. Then you can mail the problems to
Secretary(Public grievances): secypg@scr.railnet.gov.in or
AGM South central railway. agm@scr.railnet.gov.in
Don’t hesitate to mail the problems regarding railways to above email addresses. You will usually get a reply in 10 working days. Let’s see if we can bring some change.

CK Babu wins. Whats in store for CTR??

CK Babu has won the recent assembly elections with a margin of approx 1600 votes. With this the jinx of chittoor is broken in the way that the present MLA is from the Party forming Govt and not from apposition, as the case was earlier.

To be frank no major development activity ever was taken up in ctr, even when CK babu was MLA earlier. The one and only excuse he could claim was that, then the congress was in opposition. What’s happened is happened. Now he is the sitting MLA and also claims, he is very close to CM YSR. Now its his turn to show gratitude to the people of ctr for showing relentless faith in electing him by putting his every effort for the sake of chittoor. He himself knows what the fate of chitoor had been in these years.
If he really wants to do something for ctr, it’s the time. Regarding a ministerial berth in present cabinet, the chances are grim because the opposition would cry foul and create a ruckus in assembly over this. However he can retain the chairmanship of Rayalseema Development Board and may have his say in the new Govt. Can anyone of us dare to say that chittoor has changed even a little from our childhood days. This should not continue.

I have discussed with several of our friends from chittoor regarding the priorities for the new govt. Most unanimous are:

1. First widen the roads immediately and provide central lighting.. As told earlier the proposals are ready for the following roads - MSR Junction to Nutrine, Sugar Factory to PCR Jn, Muncipal Office to Kattamanchi Byepass and Greamspet to Reddygunta. This entire project needs just 11 crores This is long due in ctr. Anyone can notice this, as all the roads are crowded and traffic is highly irregular. Widening of roads will help mainly in two things for ctr. (a) Solve the persisting traffic problem and creates good accessibility to all the corners of ctr. (b) Wide and beautiful roads will automatically lead to development of the town and will be a boost to expansion of town.

2. Fight for the sanction of telugu ganga water to NTR jalasayam via Tirupati using JNNURM funds.

3. Underground drainage facility for ctr.( Already proposals sent to Govt @ 76.2 crores).

4. No Govt college exists in CTR which has been a dist HQrs since British era(Approx since 1801). Instead of craving for a polytechnic college(which has no demand now a days), Demand for an Govt Engineering College which can also have Polytecnic classes in the second shift. Already branches of JNTU were started in several places like Pulivendula and Vizianagaram. Why doesnt ctr deserve this?

5. Provide more support and create enough pressure to start Christian Medical College as early as possible.

6. Appoint municipal authorities who are well experienced and have good exposure reg developments taking place in other towns. The onus is on the MLA.

Now friends, don’t you think these are the least that can be done to rectify the injustice done to CTR over the ages
Leave your suggestions and brickbats in the comments section or mail me at ctrivenkatesh@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Land handed over to CMC

The total 589.59 acres of land has been transferred officially to CMC Vellore association.The chittoor R.D.O oversaw this transfer under the direct supervision of district collector.CMC has paid 1 lakh per acre for govt land,3.5 lakh per acre for dkt land and 6.5 lakh per acre for patta land.Now the onus is on cmc to start works imm and start the work on medical, dental and nursing colleges as promised.Well everything is going on fine,but i have following doubts:
1.why is there no official information on CMCs website or newsletters reg chittoor campus.

2.will the tamilnadu Govt allow the moving out of an prestigious institute from its kitty

3.CMC usually fills its seats by a nation wide entrance and its own quotas.no seats are allotted to the respective state govt.whats the response of our govt on this matter.
Can someone clarify on this??????

Monday, May 11, 2009

Chittoor railway station is now "A" Class

Now chittoor railway station is officially A Class.This was declared by the senior divisional commercial manager after he inspected the financial records and earnings.
In indian railway classification any station with annual revenue earnings crossing 60 Million is given an A class status.chittoor station earned approx 628 Lakhs or 62.8 millions for 2008-09.With this up gradation of class chittoor station will now get more facilities like ac waiting rooms,improved platforms etc etc.Chittoor Railway station always had the potential as it is the confluence point for 3 states. now lets wish new trains like ctr-chennai and ctr- bangalore will see the light in the coming budget.