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By:

Minal Sancheti

2 May 2026 at 12:26:53 pm

Tussle between BMC, WR leaves Dadar dry

Mumbai: Dadar is the only railway station in Mumbai that has no authorised water connection. This, as per the sources, is due to an ongoing dispute between the Western Railway and the BMC. The tussle between the BMC and the Western Railway has led to a strange situation. The Western Railway is asking the BMC to pay Rs 338 crore for way leave charges, and the Western Railway has to pay Rs 22 Lakh to the BMC. The tussle has been going on for 12 years and remains unresolved. As per the sources,...

Tussle between BMC, WR leaves Dadar dry

Mumbai: Dadar is the only railway station in Mumbai that has no authorised water connection. This, as per the sources, is due to an ongoing dispute between the Western Railway and the BMC. The tussle between the BMC and the Western Railway has led to a strange situation. The Western Railway is asking the BMC to pay Rs 338 crore for way leave charges, and the Western Railway has to pay Rs 22 Lakh to the BMC. The tussle has been going on for 12 years and remains unresolved. As per the sources, due to this, the BMC has not given any new connections to the Western Railway, which needs the connections because of the increase in the capacity of new coaches. Currently, the Western Railway is facing a water shortage of 20 per cent for train operations. Thus, the water is being filled at the next train stops like Surat and Valsad, or wherever the train halts. The dependency on water tankers has increased because the Western Railway did not have enough water connections from the BMC. This has caused more expenditure for the Western Railway. For Dadar terminus, the Western Railway uses 40 water tankers, each water tanker of the capacity of 10,000 litres, which comes down to four lakh litres of water every day. Around eight water tankers of the capacity of 10,000 litres, which comes down to 80,000 litres of water, are required for Dadar station. In total, the Western Railway incurs expenses on 4,80,000 litres of water every day. BMC PRO Tanaji Kamble has denied that there was no water connection at Dadar Railway Station. “Every station has BMC water connection,” he said. Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Western Railway Vineet Abhishek said, “All efforts are being taken to ensure there is no inconvenience to our passengers.”

Marathi Mandate

The Maharashtra government has taken a commendable step to promote its native language. The Mahayuti administration’s recent directive making Marathi compulsory for all government, semi-government and local self-government offices, as well as state-run corporations and aided institutions is an ambitious effort to elevate Marathi’s role in public administration and governance. Officials will be required to use Marathi with visitors, excepting foreigners and non-Marathi speakers. Keyboards must include Marathi Devanagari script, with penalties for non-compliance.


The directive transcends the confines of the mere symbolism and extends to advertisements, official correspondence, tenders and notices - all of which must now be issued exclusively in Marathi. Even central government offices operating in Maharashtra are expected to comply, with signboards, application forms, and websites to be trilingual under the Centre’s policy, but with Marathi taking precedence.


In theory, this move should bolster the language’s prestige and ensure greater accessibility for the state’s citizens. In practice, however, its effectiveness will depend on its implementation and the clarity of communication. If executed well, this could be a model for linguistic policies in multilingual societies. If done poorly, it risks becoming yet another bureaucratic edict that is ignored.


Official correspondence between departments has historically been conducted in English, and key policy decisions have been documented in it. The result has been a linguistic disconnect between the government and large sections of the population. While English remains indispensable in global commerce and higher education, making governance more accessible in Marathi in Maharashtra should be the goal every government strives for.


Mere compulsion is not enough. If Marathi is to be the primary language of administration, it must be used in a manner that is clear and simple. A heavy reliance on bureaucratic jargon will only alienate citizens rather than empower them. In the past, the use of highly Sanskritised Marathi in legal and administrative documents has made comprehension difficult even for native speakers. To be truly effective, the government must ensure that official communication is in a language that people can understand, rather than one that is so formal that it feels foreign.


The government has framed this as part of a broader Marathi Language Policy, aiming to establish Marathi as the language of knowledge and employment over the next 25 years. But the challenge remains for a linguistic mandate to translate into meaningful change.


By mandating Marathi in governance, Maharashtra has taken a decisive step in reinforcing its linguistic heritage. The key now is to implement this directive pragmatically, ensuring that the language of administration is one that truly serves the people and not one that turns into yet another bureaucratic obstacle.

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