Of 25 city MPs, only 6 attend CR meeting

For more than 80 lakh suburban and non-suburban commuters, the meeting is important because railway collects and acts on suggestions from people’s representatives to improve train services and passenger amenities, besides solving other issues

Of the 25 Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) invited by Central Railway for a meeting to discuss commuter issues, only six showed up on Wednesday.

Around 40 lakh passengers use the local trains each day. (File photo)

The MPs who attended are Arvind Sawant, Rahul Shewale, Kirit Somaiya, Kapil Patil, Majeed Memon and Bhalchandra Mungekar. Among those who skipped the meeting are three city MPs — Poonam Mahajan, Gopal Shetty and Gajanan Kirtikar.

For more than 80 lakh suburban and non-suburban commuters, the meeting is important because railway collects and acts on suggestions from people’s representatives to improve train services and passenger amenities, besides solving other issues.

The MPs present for the meeting raised various issues ranging from the safety of women commuters, decongestion of suburban trains, letting fast trains halt at Parel station, suburban train connectivity to Bhiwandi and shuttle services for Kasara and Karjat from Thane station, among others.

CR officials said a total of 25 MPs, these include 12 from the Lok Sabha and 13 from the Rajya Sabha, were invited for the meeting at the CR headquarters at CST.

Rajya Sabha MP Mungekar said he has demanded comprehensive security plan for women commuters because even though CCTVs will act as a deterrent to prevent crime, but cannot stop it from happening it.

Along with general manager SK Sood, all the senior officials of CR were present for the meeting.