Railways paying special attention to Bihar: Minister

Trashing charges of discrimination against Bihar, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha today said Narendra Modi government has provided more funds for pending projects in the state than Congress-led UPA.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as well as RJD president Lalu Prasad, both of them former Railways ministers, had criticised Railway budget presented by current Minister Suresh Prabhu in February for ignoring the interests of Bihar.
Countering the allegation, Sinha told reporters here that Railways has allocated more money than what was given during UPA time, for the railway bridge at Digha in Patna over Ganga river and another one at Munger.

Giving comparative figures, he said for Digha bridge the UPA government had provided Rs 157 crore, Rs 145 crore and Rs 183 crore during 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.
On the other hand, the NDA government provided Rs 375 crore last year and rest Rs 300 crore in the current financial year, he said.
Likewise, for the railway bridge at Munger, the UPA government had given Rs 114 crore, Rs 150 crore and Rs 176 crore during 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14, he said.

In this case, the Narendra Modi government had made available Rs 301 crore last year and rest Rs 180 crore for completion of the project was given in the present fiscal, he said.

"From present budgetary allocation, work on both the bridges will be completed by June this year and would be opened then on," he said.
The Minister said special attention has been given to Bihar in the Railway budget. A target of constructing 290 km of roads connected with Railway installation has been set in the budget for current year.
Likewise, doubling of line would be completed in Jaynagar-Darbhanga-Narkatiaganj,
Bhikhnatoli-Raxual-Narkatiaganj and Gauchari-Naurangpur sections, he said.
Sinha alleged that due to lack of cooperation of the Bihar government, the Patliputra railway station could not be made functional despite completion of the project.

Besides, encroachment on Railway land could not be removed from many places in the state, he said.