MYSORE: Is the increase in traffic density on the Mysore-Bangalore sector an indicator of gradual emergence of Mysore as a city of economic and commercial importance?

The answer seems to be in the affirmative as the trend is not sudden or an overnight development and more people are seen travelling between the two cities either for professional or business purposes.

As a result, most of the new trains are becoming popular, and this is not because of the condition of the highway, which has improved and the road widening work is nearly over and the travelling time has been restored to a little over three hours.

Juxtapose this with the non-stop bus service operated by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation between the two cities every 10 minutes and the increase in the number of private vehicles plying on the highway, the view that Mysore is slowly but surely emerging as an economic powerhouse is reinforced.

Prashanth Kumar, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of South Western Railway, Mysore Division, told The Hindu that the Railways has registered a 32.6 per cent increase in the passenger traffic originating from Mysore between April and September. As against 1.10 crore passengers registered during 2004, 14.7 crore passengers patronised the Railways during the corresponding period this year. Of the total passengers, 80 per cent was for Bangalore.

The average growth in passenger traffic increased constantly in the past few years, according to Mr. Kumar, who pointed out that the total number of passengers patronising the Railways in the Mysore Division during 2002-03 was 2.02 crore, which increased to 2.40 crore during the subsequent year. Given the current trend, it is projected that an estimated 3 crore passengers may utilise the train services. While the figures are for the division, it is reckoned that 80 per cent of passenger traffic is on the Mysore-Bangalore sector. Hence, it is safe to assume that there has been a proportionate growth in the number of people using rail services between the two cities for various reasons.

As Bhanuchandran, an industrial observer and a consultant, observed: With Bangalore having reached the saturation point, there are many industrial houses that have evinced interest in Mysore. A view concurred by a few members of the Mysore chapter of the CII and the MCCI who pointed out that apart from IT and similar knowledge-based sectors, the automobile industry has good prospects in Mysore.

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