1 week Ago
Surat: The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) has raised various transportation issues faced by businesses and industries in the south Gujarat region. SGCCI received representations related to poor road, rail, and air transport facilities, after which the issues were raised with the authorities concerned. In a letter to written to Union minister of road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, the SGCCI demanded urgent repair of National Highway 48 between Surat and Mumbai.
SGCCI claimed that the five-hour route takes around 10 hours due to the extreme road conditions and it damage vehicles. "The two tyres of my car burst when I was returning from Mumbai. The connectivity to Mumbai for national and international business is a must for business and industry in south Gujarat.
But with the current road conditions, it is seriously impacting growth," said Vijay Mevawala, president of SGCCI. The letter says, "Covering the 280km distance from Surat to Mumbai normally takes about five hours, but due to the poor road condition, it is now taking eight to nine hours. Larger and heavier vehicles take even longer.
As a result, the travel time has doubled, as has the national expenditure on fuel." Raising issues related to railways, SGCCI wrote a letter to the divisional railway manager of Western Railway, Niraj Verma, to reinstate the stoppage at Andheri station for superfast trains like Vande Bharat, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Tejas, and Karnavati. "Key trains stopped at Andheri station earlier.
However, during Covid, these stoppages were removed. Travellers from Gujarat who need to travel abroad for business from Mumbai international airport face inconvenience. They currently need to disembark at Mumbai Central or Borivali, which requires an additional hour and extra expense to reach the airport," said Mevawala.
From Andheri station, travellers could reach the Mumbai airport in just ten minutes. To initiate international air cargo services at Surat International Airport, known as the economic capital of Gujarat, SGCCI submitted a written representation to Ajay Kumar Bhardwaj, CEO, Airports Authority of India Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company. "Surat hosts various established and developed industries, such as textiles, diamonds, chemicals, gems and jewellery, pharmaceuticals, aquaculture, horticulture, and garmenting.
Products from samples to finished goods are sent abroad from Surat, but due to the lack of international air cargo services at the airport, goods have to be sent via the Mumbai route, resulting in both time delays and additional expenses," SGCCI stated in the letter..
