Provisions of Rly budget to benefit economy of state

The addition of new trains along with proposed new lines announced in the railway budget will increase the reach of the Railways in Karnataka which will benefit both its people and economy.

“New trains and new lines announced for Karnataka shows the commitment of the Railways to the state and will definitely benefit the people of the state,” K H Muniyappa, minister of state for Railways, said.

Railway budget, announced on February 24, has provided for nine new trains for the state along with host of new lines.

The total new projects sanctioned account for 364.14 km with an cost outlay of Rs 1,996.90 crore. While the Tumkur-Davangere, Whitefield-Kolar, Shimoga-Harihar will see new lines from Railways, tracks between Toranagallu-Ranjithpura and Shivani-Hosadurga will be doubled.

Some new lines with a projected length of 378.92 km will be taken up in the 12th Plan period, Muniyappa said. These projects are Marikuppam-Kuppam, Gadg-Wadi, Chikballapur-Sri Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam, Maddur-Hanakere, Birur-Ajjampur, Alamatti-Kopal, and Alamati-Yadgir.

Railways will also conduct new surveys in 2011-12 in various regions of the state.

Dronachalam-Bellary, Koppal-Singanur, Nanjangud-Nilambur Road, Birur-Shimoga (doubling), Thalassery-Mysore, Hubli-Bangalore(doubling), Tumkur- Chamarajnagar, Kolhapur-Dharwar and Korad-Belgaum via Nipani will witness new surveys in this period.

Referring to fund allocation, Muniyappa said adequate fund had been allocated for projects in the state and further allocation would be done as the projects progressed.

For new lines, the total outlay of funds is around Rs 200 crore in 2011-12 period, which was Rs 306.10 crore in 2010-11 period.

Gauge conversions have been provided with Rs 39.22 crore in 2011-12 against Rs 86 crore last year. Similarly, doubling of tracks will have Rs 572.51 crore for the present financial year against Rs 138 crore during last year.

The state will also receive Rs 63.10 crore for electrification purpose in this fiscal. “The total allocation of funds have seen a rise of 64 per cent to Rs 873.79 crore in 2011-12 period against Rs 532.31 crore last year,” Muniyappa said.

He also said the project work for wagon manufacturing unit at Kolar would start soon.

Railway budget on Friday has an estimated plan outlay of Rs 57,630 crore for 2011-12 period, an increase of around 40 per cent over last year.

As per the budget, internal resources will meet around 25 per cent of the plan outlay and the rest will be from borrowings and private investment.

Indian Railway plans to borrow around Rs 20,594 crore for funding its expansion plan out of which Rs 10,000 crore is expected to be raised through infrastructure bonds.