Railway Budget fails to cheer Kerala again

An amount of Rs 1 crore has been earmarked for the development of Kochuveli station.

Update: 2016-02-26 00:51 GMT
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presents his second Rail Budget in Parliament on February 25, 2016. (Photo: Video grab)

Thiruvananthapuram: The railway budget has again let down the state by providing no major projects or allocations except proposing  the suburban railway service between Thiruvananthapuram and Chengannur.

The Chenganoor railway station will be converted as a pilgrimage station for Sabarimala devotees.  Even the prestigious projects announced in the previous budgets have failed to find a mention this time.  

The  Sabari railway line, a long- standing demand of the state government, received only Rs 20 crore.  An amount of Rs 1 crore has been earmarked for the development of Kochuveli station.

However, even railway officials have said that the amount would be sufficient only for paying the pending bills.

Though the 236-km  Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line with a total cost of Rs 6,000 crore has been included in the budget, the  railway ministry would take up  the project only using extra budgetary resources.

The same is  the case with the Kannur-Mattannur line  costing Rs 400 crore. This has also been earmarked  under extra budgetary resources.

The budget also proposed a survey for the Dindigul-Sabarimala railway line and allotted a  paltry amount of Rs 0.30 crore.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said that the suburban train service  would be similar to the Bengaluru model.  Discussions will be held with the state on how to implement the project.

The  mega projects for the state announced in the previous budget  included the rail coach factory at Kanjikode,   coach depots for Nemom and Kottayam, railway medical college and the bottling plants  in Thiruvananthapuram and wagon manufacturing unit at Cherthala.   

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