Kerala did not get expected projects in rail budget, says CM

The Congress-led UDF government in Kerala today expressed disappointment over the railway budget saying the state did not get expected projects.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said it was a reality that Kerala did not get the expected projects while one of his ministerial colleagues termed the budget as "totally disappointing" for the state and that it has suffered "utter neglect".
Chandy said due to financial crunch, the number of new announcements in the Rail Budget presented today was low and the share of Kerala too was not up to the mark.
Kerala will press for implementation of the schemes and projects announced in the earlier budgets, he told reporters here.

Earlier, the state Transport and Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed, who is also in-charge of the railways in the state, said Kerala did not expect any major railway project, but this kind of "utter neglect" towards the state was least expected.
The state got only two additional weekly trains to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and Visakhapatnam and three passenger trains in Rail Budget and only a meagre amount of Rs 53 crore for the rail coach factory in Palakkad, which was announced four years ago.
Mohammed said he along with Chandy will meet Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal to convey the state's grievances.

"Even if we do not get any additional allocation in this Budget, we will ask the Railway Minister to implement the projects announced in previous budgets," he added.