Raw deal for state continues

State transport minister Aryadan Mohammed’s intuition that the state was not likely to gain anything from the railway budget 2013-14 was right. “Thoroughly disappointing,’’ he said on Tuesday. Other Congress leaders weren’t as daring as Aryadan in acknowledging this. But the fact that the presence of 20 UPA MPs, including eight Union ministers, from Kerala failed to tilt the Bansal balance in the state’s favour was on record. Connectivity to Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai was not addressed though a few weekly express trains have been announced. “No new commitments of doubling the railway lanes were mentioned and there are also no new targets announced to electrify the routes. The Guruvayur-Thirunavaya line also failed to get a mention,” Thrissur Railway Passengers’ Association (TRPA) General Secretary P Krishnakumar told TOI. The state will not see any new development, other than the pending projects, in gauge conversion. The doubling in Alappuzha route will not be completed in near future. Kerala had asked for 50 new trains. But it got only two - Punalur-Kollam and Thrissur-Guruvayur. This apart, the Kozhikode - Shornur passenger will run daily. The Ernakulam -Thrissur MEMU, announced in the last budget, has been extended to Shornur. Two new express trains - Kollam - Vishakapatnam weekly and Lokmanya Tilak - Kochuvelli weekly – were granted. Even though the budget mentions the Palakkad coach factory, Bansal didn’t elaborate on it but for a blanket statement that ``discussions were on with the state government’’. The budget promises to set up a skill development centre at Kollam, but it doesn’t mention anything about the Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram, that was announced a couple of years back. (Times of India dt 27-2-2013)