The former Railway Minister and Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge has said that the misplaced priorities of the Railway Ministry is delaying the establishment of Railway divisions at Kalaburagi, Udampur in Jammu and Kashmir and Siliguri in Assam which were sanctioned by the previous United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
Talking to presspersons here on Sunday, Mr. Kharge said that the Union government and the Railways, which were interested in taking up only elitist projects such as bullet train designed to serve two cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad, have neglected other railway projects, including the establishment of Railway Divisions which would help improve the railway network in the backward Kalaburagi region and the border States...
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of Jammu and Kashmir and Assam to get better railway infrastructure.
Mr. Kharge, who was instrumental in sanctioning these three Railway Divisions when he was the Railway Minister for a short duration in the previous United Progressive Alliance government, said that he had been continuously making his efforts to persuade Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to allocate the required funds for the establishment of the three Railway Divisions but to no avail.
“When I met Mr. Suresh Prabhu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan a couple of days ago when President Pranab Mukherjee hosted a dinner for Fresh President Francoise Hollande, I raised the subject once again and the Minister replied that Rs. 100 crore was required for setting up the divisions and that he had requested the Finance Minister for funds,” Mr. Kharge said and quoted Mr. Suresh Prabhu as saying: “Once funds are provided, work will be taken up.”
He said that Mr. Suresh Prabhu’s response was baffling and gave room to the feeling that the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre was neglecting railway projects sanctioned by the United Progressive Alliance government.
Mr. Kharge said that even other projects such as doubling and electrification of railway lines sanctioned during the United Progressive Alliance government have not been given funds.
Even work on establishing the third terminus in Bengaluru to decongest the movement of incoming and outgoing trains sanctioned by the previous government has not been taken up for execution now.
Mr. Kharge said when he was the Railway Minister, prime land available adjacent to the Bengaluru City Railway Station owned by the erstwhile Binny Mills was acquired at a cost of Rs. 80 crore and handed over to the Railways for the construction of the third terminus. But so far the work of constructing the third terminus has not begun on the land.
The establishment of the third terminus would not only help decongest movement of trains but also help the Railways to introduce more trains to and from Bengaluru, he said.
United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre proposed three divisions
They were to come up at Kalaburagi, Udampur in Jammu and Kashmir and Siliguri in Assam
Union government accused of taking up only elitist projects such as bullet train
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