In a letter to Railway Minister Shri D.V. Sadanand Gouda, Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged him that Bairagarh station should be made part of Central Railway’s Bhopal division and pending work of gauge conversion between Mhow and Khandwa should be completed soon.
In the letter, the Chief Minister said that it is very strange that Bairagarh station adjoining Bhopal comes under Ratlam railway division. It should be made a part of Bhopal railway division. Bairagarh has practically become a part of Bhopal city. Bhopal’s airport is also in Bairagarh. But people have to travel to 200 kilometers to Ratlam for railway-related works. Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha in its monsoon session in year 2013 had also passed a unofficial resolution to include Bairagarh station in Bhopal division.
The Chief Minister wrote that Railway has started gauge conversion of Ratlam-Indore-Mhow-Khandwa line, which is a part of gauge conversion work of Ajmer-Secundarabad route. Ratlam to Mhow gauge conversion is underway, but the work between Mhow and Khandwa is pending. Indore is commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, which needs connectivity with entire country. Due to absence of this link, it has highly limited connectivity with southern and western India.
The Chief Minister has written that Simhastha fair will be held between April and May 2016 at Ujjain. Completion of this link will provide connectivity with Ujjain to pilgrims from southern and western India. He said that despite repeated requests, the former Railway Minister did not pay desired attention towards completion of this work and gauge conversion work of 151 kilometers is pending. The Chief Minister said that this work should be completed at the earliest in view Simhastha 2016.