Usually in India, for every big or small introduction of new government facilities, there is an elaborate inauguration ceremony before they are thrown open to the public.
And there have been incidents of delays in opening such infrastructure projects due to unavailability of high-profile leaders, in the past.
The Railways, being one such government department, usually sees MPs and ministers being invited for unveiling of such projects. But partly due to circumstances, two such inaugurations in Bengaluru recently were done by the common man.
First, on November 9, a 10-year-old child Kumri Begumma, who is the daughter of a labourer, Chandbi (32), inaugurated an escalator on platform no 4 of the KSR-Majestic Railway Station.
Then on Monday, November 18, Monabi, a 23-year-old labourer and her two-year-old son Amir, cut the ribbon for platform numbers two and three. On both the occasions, senior railway staff were present to witness the event.
Bengaluru Central MP, PC Mohan, was invited by the divisional officials to do the honours, but he could not, due to Section 144 imposed by the state government in light of the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict.
While the Railways wanted to postpone the event, PC Mohan himself suggested that the officials go ahead with the inauguration.
Along with the escalator, PC Mohan was also set to inaugurate an AC waiting hall on platform no 1. That facility was eventually inaugurated by two senior citizens present at the station.
Deputy General Manager South Western Railways, E Vijaya, said a spontaneous decision was taken by General Manager AK Singh who was presiding over the event, to have it inaugurated by citizens. So the inauguration on November 9 was not planned to be like that.
She explained that as per protocol, elected representatives— both MPs and MLAs— are usually called to inaugurate important works which are often proposed by the elected representatives themselves.
“However, the event on November 18 was planned as we could not call any elected representatives due to Model Code of Conduct for the bye-polls. So senior officials decided to do it this way,” Vijaya said.