The rail budget, presented on Thursday, is in fact a great relief for Kerala, a state where the occupancy of railway tracks is over 120% and the doubling works on the Ernakulam-Kottayam-Kayamkulam and Ernakulam-Alappuzha-Kayamkulam routes are delayed for decades.
Railway minister Suresh Prabhu had accorded top priority to gauge conversion, adding tracks, electrification, preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey works in his budget. However, there is a need for a change in the attitude of the state government, people's representatives and people to realise the ends.
“The state government and MPs are opposed to the idea of sharing the project costs when almost all other states are doing it. We are actually playing negative politics,“ former minister of state for railways O Rajagopal said.
Planners point out that the state's share in Central taxes has been increased from 32% to 42%. “The state will receive Rs 9,519 crore during the 14th Finance Commission period of 2015-20. This amount is actually meant for development activities but we spend it on salaries and other government expenses,“ a senior officer with the finance department said.
The state had recently agreed to share the cost of the 72-km rail link between Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad and Nanjangud in Mysuru, but is tight-lipped about the doubling, electrification and signalling works.
The MPs had turned down a proposal for spending a portion of their funds for railway-related works. “Forget the main works, the works of 19 rail overbridges started five years ago are yet to be completed. The other states lay new tracks and even the entire network in two-five years,“ a senior officer pointed out.
(P.V.Shyam, Times of India dt 28-2-2015)
Railway minister Suresh Prabhu had accorded top priority to gauge conversion, adding tracks, electrification, preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey works in his budget. However, there is a need for a change in the attitude of the state government, people's representatives and people to realise the ends.
“The state government and MPs are opposed to the idea of sharing the project costs when almost all other states are doing it. We are actually playing negative politics,“ former minister of state for railways O Rajagopal said.
Planners point out that the state's share in Central taxes has been increased from 32% to 42%. “The state will receive Rs 9,519 crore during the 14th Finance Commission period of 2015-20. This amount is actually meant for development activities but we spend it on salaries and other government expenses,“ a senior officer with the finance department said.
The state had recently agreed to share the cost of the 72-km rail link between Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad and Nanjangud in Mysuru, but is tight-lipped about the doubling, electrification and signalling works.
The MPs had turned down a proposal for spending a portion of their funds for railway-related works. “Forget the main works, the works of 19 rail overbridges started five years ago are yet to be completed. The other states lay new tracks and even the entire network in two-five years,“ a senior officer pointed out.
(P.V.Shyam, Times of India dt 28-2-2015)
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