Karnataka urges Railways to sanction 11 projects

Ahead of the rail budget, Karnataka has asked the Centre to sanction 11 new Railway projects for the state.

The 11 railway projects requested for approval include Tumkur-Kunigal-Maddur; Tiptur-Dudda; Gadag-Mundaragi-Harapanhalli; Mangalore-Gulbarga (via Hassan-Arasikere-Chitradurga-Hospet-Bellary-Raichur); Almatti-Koppala (via Kudala Sangama); Almatti-Yadgiri (via Muddebihal-Shorapura); Bijapur-Athani (via Shedbal); Bangalore-Mangalore doubling (via Arasikere); Bangalore-Sirdi (via Tumkur-Davanagere-Hubli-Bagalkot-Bijapur); Bangalore-Mangalore (day train via Mysore) and Raichur-Bagalkot. In a letter to Railways Minister P K Bansal, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar also requested for transferring of Mangalore zone from Southern Railway to South Western Railway and Gulbarga zone from South Central Railway to South Western Railway. Noting that the Karnataka government has the policy of cost sharing of Railway projects with the Railways Ministry, Shettar said, accordingly, the state government has already conveyed its willingness to provide land free of cost and share the cost of construction of the projects on a 50:50 basis. Gadag-Wadi new Railway line was announced during the 2012-13 Railway Budget.

In addition to that, Gadag-Haveri, Srinivasapura-Madanapalli, K R Nagar-Kushalanagar, Kadri -Puttaparthy, Chickaballapur-Puttaparthy and Dharwad-Belgaum are pending for clearance by the Planning Commission. In respect of the frozen section of Chickmagalur-Sakleshpura new Railway line, the state government has requested the Railway Board for early confirmation. The Chief Minister also said, new Railway projects — Bijapur-Shahbad; Talaguppa-Honnavara; Hubli-Ankola — are proposed for sanction on public-private-partnership basis. Bansal will present his maiden Railway budget on February 26.