Nagpur: The wait for Ola cabs from Nagpur railway station is expected to be over soon. Talking to newsmen on Sunday, Central railway general manager DK Sharma said, “The cab aggregator has deposited Rs35 lakh towards licence fee and may start operations from west side of the station in 10-15 days.”Cabs will not operate from the east side for now due to lack of response. Speaking on pre-paid autorickshaw operators’ stiff opposition to cabs, Sharma said “A via media will be worked out to ensure healthy competition. If there is dispute, security will be provided to the operator.”Sharma was speaking on the sidelines of inter-railway painting competition in which Nagpur Central Railway was chosen for finals. At least 30 railway artists (employees) across all railway zones tried their luck. DRM BK Gupta and senior railway officials were present.“Apart from doing our routine task of operating trains, we want to give exposure to talent of employees. This is the basic idea behind the painting competition,” said Sharma. Everyone from peon to senior sectional engineer participated in the competition.Sharma said that there is a need to increase speed of long distance trains. “We are on the track and in next five years, this will be a reality,” he said.Sharma said the railways’ priority is to develop Ajni into a satellite station. “We plan to construct a pitline and an island platform at Ajni by year-end. The station will also benefit from works arising out of ongoing third line project,” said the top official.Sharma said that almost all the stations under the division will be under CCTV surveillance in phases. “All-woman Ajni station will be a priority,” he said.The general manager said with safety being clubbed as part of passenger amenities, a daunting task of setting up 56 foot-over-bridges (FOBs) and 300 escalators is on hand across the stations under Central Railway.Sharma also mulled about introducing Integrated Ticketing System (ITS) — a single smart card-based system that can be used on multiple modes of transport including the upcoming metro railway lines to check crowd.Central Railway to promote local artThe Nagpur Central Railway will promote local art and culture at stations under its jurisdiction. Sharma cited the example of Chandrapur and Ballarshah, where tiger paintings have relived the importance of these areas. “Every station and place has a local culture which would be depicted through art at the stations. At many places this art and culture is dying and we would do all possible to promote it through stations. Apart from railway employees, art by others would also be displayed,” said Sharma. Meanwhile, the first three winners of the national contest include P Shyam Sunder Rao of East Coast Railway, Sunil Kumar of ECR and CP Ramtahal of Central Railway.

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