The Telangana government has urged Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to include adequate budgetary allocations to state railway projects in the Union Budget.
State Industries and Commerce Minister K.T. Rama Rao highlighted severe discrimination being meted out to Telangana in budget allocation to various Railway projects in a letter to the Union Minister.
KTR, as the state minister is popularly known, stated that the Union government has ignored the state government’s repeated requests to sanction funds for several important ongoing and proposed projects in the state. “The discrimination in the railway sector is more blatant and visible and the state has been getting a raw deal in every budget presented by the NDA government,” he wrote.
He highlighted that the 13th Schedule of the AP State Reorganisation Act clearly states that the Indian Railways shall, within six months from the appointed day, examine the feasibility of establishing a Rail Coach Factory in the successor State of Telangana and improve rail connectivity in the state and take an expeditious decision thereon.
Despite repeated requests from the state government, the Union government has not taken any steps to establish a Rail Coach Factory in Kazipet, nor has it approved any new major infrastructure project to improve rail connectivity in the state.
KTR said that Telangana contributes substantially to the revenues of South Central Railway (both freight and passenger).
“The state is a crucial link between North and South India and is home to the most important Railway junctions – Secunderabad & Kazipet – in our country. Being a landlocked state, Telangana is heavily dependent on Railway infrastructure for transportation of goods and passengers. Addition of new Railway infrastructure will be a big boost to the state’s growth story. But the Union government is found wanting when it comes to extending necessary assistance to develop new transport infrastructure in Telangana,” he said.
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The minister stated that it is appalling that only a little more than 100 km of railway track has been laid in Telangana in the last eight years. The state has only 3% of the total railway lines in the country, with approximately 57% of them being single lane. “This lack of critical infra is depriving Telangana of any new trains. It is disheartening to note that in the past eight years, South Central Railway has launched only one new train from the capital city – Lingampally-Vijayawada Intercity Express.”
KTR stated that in the last eight years, the current NDA government has not grounded a single new railway line in Telangana. The progress of joint venture railway projects undertaken with the state government is also excruciatingly slow.
While the Union government spent only Rs 1,100 crore on ongoing railway projects in the state, the state government spent Rs 1,904 crore as its share. Several projects that had been approved by previous governments have been shelved by the current Union government. Many other projects for which survey reports were submitted a long time ago have also stalled.
KTR mentioned high-priority project proposals submitted to the Railway Board years ago and demanded that they be approved.
He stated that previously, the South Central Railways would call a meeting of all Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from the region to accept proposals for new railway projects and trains. Surprisingly, even that convention has been done away with this year, he added.
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