It is correct that being from the state Maharashtra Mr. Prabhu have soft corner for the state and there is nothing wrong in it as long as he takes due care of other states too, which I think are very well taken care of as compared to previous regimes. We should not expect him to give more priority to other state over his home state (which had been neglected since decades as most RMs hailed from eastern region).
Mumbai had never been the political constituency of Mr. Prabhu, he won all his parliamentary elections from Rajapur which is far away from Mumbai.
There...
more... are many things related to Mumbai locals, which make it special and I think should be mentioned here:
(1) Mumbai Locals (MLs) carry more than 75 lacs passengers per day which should be atleast equal to the passengers carried in other local trains in Kolkata(no-2), Chennai(no-3), Delhi, Sec'bad taken together. I remember it was reported in national news paper (ToI/ ET) during RB analysis in mid 1990s, that MLs were carrying a whopping 58% of total suburban passengers, and very less financial allocation was done for MLs/Mumbai in that year. Even today figure should be similar (conservatively 50%).
(2) MLs are lifeline of Mumbai and main mode of intracity transport due to its linear development and island geography. Govt of Maharashra/CIDCO Mumbai have actively participated by contributing 50% to 67% of project cost since decades with IR to create ML infrastructure. Where as in case of locals in Delhi/WB/TN, state Govts did not contribute. Since last few years almost all the state govts have started participating/ contributing, as they recognize that they indirectly derive benefits out of cost effective & loss making local trains/ other rail facilities.
(3) The surface road area per person is several times lesser in Mumbai than in Delhi which enjoy much better road transport. So local trains were not that important in Delhi. With advent of the superb Delhi Metro, the local trains have become almost irrelevant.
(4) Today Mumbai & Delhi are major metropolitan area which are distinctly larger than other city and have a population of over 2 crores each with very high per capita income. New Delhi, the national capital, has been given special importance by way of giving large number of premium trains and other facilities but Mumbai has left behind in-spite of the fact that it is equivalent to Delhi and first rail in India was introduced in Mumbai. This is because of IR policies where the market scenario have little importance, and decisions are based more on the whims and fancies of RMs/Bureaucrats. In airline traffic Mumbai was no.1 and over taken by Delhi just 1or 2 years back. Its air traffic is multiple times of the air traffic at Kolkata, Chennai, SC. Where as in IR, its importance is almost like other state capital zonal HQs like Chennai, Secunderabad, Kolkata. Similarly Bangalore too had been sufferer due to non existence of zonal HQ which had been made up to large extent by Mr. Jaffer Sharief.
(5) Mumbai, the financial capital which give distinctly the highest tax collection to nation, deserves appropriate importance very much like the way political capital (Delhi) is given. But in our country political wisdom prevails over the financial wisdom, political capital are pampered like queens and the financial capital/centers are relegated to the post of her body guard. As a result political capital grows faster than financial capital/ centres.
(6) MLs had been giving operational surpluses to IR (unique case in world!) where as other local were constantly giving losses. This indicated a very good track record of Mumbaikars regarding practice of travelling with ticket. After non increment of non ac fares for 10 continuous years by some populist RMs did the Mumbai local slipped into loss making zone. Even today the operating ratio for MLs shall definitely be much better than others.
(7) After neglect of decades, MLs deserve a better treatment. Any body who has traveled in ML during peak hours (esp CCG-VR) and witnessed a major ML station even for 15 minutes shall fully agree to it.
