Businessman Pitches Idea To Railway Minister On Napkin During Flight, Lands A Meeting

An entrepreneur spotted Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during a Delhi-Kolkata midnight flight on February 2 and grabbed the chance to hand over a business proposal written on tissue paper to him. His idea caught the railway ministry’s attention and landed a meeting in no time.

“Sir, if you allow, I would like to present how railways can be an integral part in the supply chain of AFR (alternative fuel and raw material) to cement plants and also contribute to our Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan,” Satnaliwala told Vaishnaw.

He hurriedly wrote a proposal on a paper napkin as that was the only piece of paper that he could lay his hands on at that time.

Kolkata-based businessman Akshay Satnaliwala’s pitch to carry solid and other waste through the railway route as a cheaper mode of transportation was a hit and to his surprise, Satnaliwala got a call from Eastern Railway general manager Milind K Deouskar’s office within six minutes of landing at the Kolkata Airport. A meeting with Deouskar and other officials was scheduled for February 6.

Eastern Railway general manager Milind K Deouskar and other senior officers met Satnaliwala at the ER headquarters here and discussed the freight prospects suggested by his firm, an official told news agency PTI.

Eastern Railway Spokesperson Kaushik Mitra said Satnaliwala, director of a solid waste management company in West Bengal, explained the schematic flow of solid waste to various industries with prospective buyers in different parts of the country like Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Rajgangpur in Odisha and other clusters through the railways.

He said the ER general manager offered flexible terms for carrying solid and other waste through the railway route as a cheaper mode of transportation.

“Such bulk quantity transport of solid and plastic waste through the railway route will not only be beneficial for the company but will help recycle waste thereby reducing pollution at the same time,” Mitra said.

Satnaliwala was asked by senior ER officials to submit a proposal for a station-to-station rate facility with a commitment to traffic movement, Mitra said. The entrepreneur thanked the railway minister and the ER for responding to his appeal.

“I am happy that the railway ministry has acknowledged my proposal and given me a chance to present it in the presence of all senior officials of Eastern Railway,” Satnaliwala said.

(With PTI inputs)

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