HP Cong hails Railway budget, Opposition terms 'disappointing'

The Railway budget presented in Parliament today has evoked mixed response in Himachal Pradesh with the ruling Congress party hailing it while the Opposition BJP and CPI(M) alleging that the state has been ignored and left "high and dry".
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Industries minister Mukesh Agnihotri hailed the announcements made in the budget regarding proposed surveys for Amb-Kangra via Nadaun, Baddi- Bilaspur and Dharamsala-Palampur rail lines.
"This would give impetus not only to the economic growth and tourism in the state, but would go a long way in boosting industrial activities," Singh told reporters here.
Meanwhile, slamming the budget as "most disappointing", the senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar has wondered why the Railway minister has overlooked the strategic needs of the border state and did not even consider the proposal for Delhi-Shatabdi train.

He said that conversion of Pathankot-Jogindernagar meter gauge line to broad gauge and its extension to Mandi and Manali has also been put on the back burner.
The state unit of CPI(M) also alleged that the state has been completely ignored in the Railway Budget and even the Bhanupali rail line for which survey had been completed long back, has not been included in it.
"There is only rhetoric and nothing concrete in the budget and the Congress party in Himachal has failed to convince its central leadership about genuine demands of the state," prominent party leader and Deputy Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation, Tikender Panwar said.