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Joshi demands separate railway zone for Bombay

Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi today demanded that a separate railway zone be set up for Bombay and its suburban areas for better implementation of railway projects.

He was speaking at the ceremony to sign the memorandum of understanding of the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation.

Joshi said just setting up the MRVC was not enough. "The problems of suburban commuters of this metropolis are different," he said, adding that a separate zone for Bombay will help streamlining the operations.

Drawing the attention of Railway Minister Nitish Kumar and Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik, the chief minister said to handle the problems of the over 5.4 million suburban commuters and speedy implementation of projects, setting up of a zone along with the MRVC was necessary and the railway minister should initiate some steps at this moment.

However, Kumar, in a lighter vein, said a demand made by the Maharashtra chief minister could not be ignored, and the railway ministry will look into the demand.

UNI

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