Kishan Reddy blames State govt over delay in railway projects
Cites failure of State government to provide it's share as reason
Hyderabad: Union Tourism Minister and Secunderabad MP G Kishan Reddy on Monday blamed the State government for the delay in execution of railway projects in Telangana. He cited delay in handing over land and failure of the State government to provide it’s share for completing the existing projects sanctioned before the State formation. Apart from making such allegations, he conveniently ignored the Centre’s failure in sanctioning the railway coach factory at Kazipet even after allotting one to Maharashtra and also did not clarify why no new projects were sanctioned.
In a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday, Kishan Reddy proudly claimed that the allocation of funds towards railway projects has increased from Rs 250 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 2,420 crore in 2021-22 which in turn resulted in addition of about 194 route km i.e. 356 track km for the State’s railway network. He said majority of the projects were being delayed either due to delay in land acquisition or due to the State government’s failure in contributing its share as per schedule.
The union Minister who explained in detail about the projects which were delayed due to non-release of funds on part of the State government. He said the Manoharabad-Kothapally railway line, which is the only project sanctioned by the BJP government at the Centre since 2014-15, could not be completed as the State government was yet to release its share of Rs 100-crore and also hand over around 342 hectares of land to the railways. But the Centre has not allocated any major funds either since 2019-20, while the State government paid nearly Rs 207 crore of total Rs 307 crore towards it’s share.
He alleged that Cherlapally new railway terminal needs proper approach roads on both sides and the government has been requested to expedite them. He admitted that around 54 Road over Bridges (RoBs) have been held up either at the design stage, alignments or approvals, but again tried to blame the State government for lack of cooperation though the latter has no say in the contruction of RoBs at any stage
Interestingly, the Centre does not mind to sanction new projects to the BJP-ruled States. For starters, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the construction of 150-km long third railway line between Allahabad and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction (previously Mughalsarai) at the cost of Rs 2,649.44 crore during this fiscal. The Railway Ministry plans to complete the project by 2023-24, without even awaiting for the State’s share.
Meanwhile, the union Minister did not mention a word on why the Centre refused to sanction the railway coach factory at Kazipet which was promised under the Schedule 13 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act in 2014. On its part, the Telangana government allocated 60 acres land for establishment of the railway coach factory and also released Rs 40 crore. However, the Railway authorities did not take possession of the land after the then union Railway Minister for State Manoj Singh in March 2016, declared that there was no further scope to set up any coach factory in Telangana. It may be reminded that the Centre changed its stance in 2018 and sanctioned a coach factory at Latur in Maharashtra with Rs 625 crore within four months after it was proposed.
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