The former Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge has expressed his dismay over the paltry allocation to the Gulbarga Railway Divisional Headquarters in Kalaburagi and said that he had taken up the issue personally with the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and pleaded for higher allocation.
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Talking to The Hindu here on Thursday, Mr. Kharge, who is also the leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, said that the Railway Minister had assured him that the demand for higher allocation for the Gulbarga Division would be considered sympathetically and a decision would be taken soon.
In the Railway Budget, a token allocation of Rs. 46 lakh has been made to augment the infrastructure facilities in Kalaburagi under the Solapur division.
Mr. Kharge said that the Railway Minister should provide the additional funds exclusively for the Gulbarga Railway Division under the South Western Railway. As the Railway Minister, Mr. Kharge had sanctioned new railway divisions to Gulbarga, Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir and Silchar in Assam.
Mr. Prabhu had only made token allocation for all the three new divisions. Mr. Kharge as the Railway Minister had made a provision of Rs. 5 crore to the Gulbarga Railway Division.
Mr. Kharge said that he had also urged Mr. Prabhu to provide more funds for rail coach building factories in Yadgir and Kolar, which were sanctioned when he was the Railway Minister.
While Rail Coach Building Factory at Yadgir has been provided a sum of Rs. 5 crore, only a token allocation has been made for the Kolar Coach building factory.
Mr. Kharge had made a provision of Rs. 65 crore for the Yadgir coach building factory and entrusted the work to Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL).
“The RVNL should be asked to hasten the process of construction and the funds allocated for the project should not be allowed to be diverted to other projects,” he said.
He said that Mr. Prabhu had also made an allocation of Rs. 20 crore for the Gadag-Wadi new railway line and the State government should chip in with its promised share to the project and also start the land acquisition process immediately to enable the railways to take up the work of laying the railway line immediately.
Railway Minister urged to provide more funds for rail coach building factories in Yadgir and Kolar
‘State govt. should chip in with its promised share for the new Gadag-Wadi railway line’
