Expenditure of rail projects in Ktk in 09-10 is Rs 1026 cr

Karnataka has received projects that entail an expenditure of Rs 1,026 crore in the Railway budget 2009-10, Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa said.   

In the previous fiscal, this figure was Rs 680 crore, Muniyappa, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kolar in Karnataka, told reporters here, a day after Railway Budget was presented.   

The projects in the state for the current year were for new lines, doubling guage conversion, electrification, track renewal, signalling, technical work and staff quarters, among others, he said.   

Muniyappa said the state government had allocated Rs 243 crore for some of the railway projects in the state, and the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has assured that Karnataka would bear 50 per cent cost of projects in future as well.   

The Minister described as a "political statement" Yeddyurappa's remark that the state had not benefitted much from the railway budget, and that the railway minister failed to allocate more funds for ongoing projects.    

Muniyappa said this rail budget comprised the best that the state had got in the last decade.    

Railway officials said the Rail Land Development Authority was in the process of appointing consultants with regard to two sites here which would be used for commercial purpose by private firms earning revenue for the Railways.