Ahead of Union Budget, KTR urges Centre to sanction railway projects to Telangana

Minister says the State is being discriminated continuously in the matter of railway infrastructure

Minister for IT, Industries and Urban Development K.T. Rama Rao has requested Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to make dequate budgetary allocations to railway projects in the State and highlighted how Telangana was being meted out with severe discrimination every year.

In a letter addressed to the Railway Minister on Monday, he said the Union government had been ignoring repeated pleas from the State government to sanction funds for several important ongoing and proposed projects in Telangana. “The discrimination in the railway sector is more blatant and visible and the State has been getting a raw deal in every budget,” he stated. Quoting the 13th Schedule of A.P. Reorganisation Act, he said it clearly stated that Indian Railways shall, within six months from the appointed day (June 2, 2014), examine the feasibility of establishing a rail coach factory in the successor State of Telangana and improve rail connectivity in the State and take expeditious decision thereon. However, despite repeated appeals from the State government, the Centre had neither initiated any step to establish a rail coach factory at Kazipet nor granted any new major infrastructure project to improve rail connectivity in Telangana, he pointed out.

Stating that Telangana was witnessing all round progress and its economy was consistently performing better than that of many States, KTR noted that from foodgrains production to IT exports, the State was growing at a breakneck speed. Telangana was also adding state-of-the-art logistics infra to complement the growth happening in the primary and secondary sectors of economy.

“Telangana contributes substantially to the revenues, both freight and passenger, of South Central Railway since it’s a crucial link between North and South India and has important railway junctions – Secunderabad and Kazipet. Being a landlocked State, Telangana is heavily dependent on railway infrastructure for transportation of goods and passengers,” he explained.

Highlighting the need for addition of new railway infrastructure, the Telangana Minister said it would be a big boost to the State’s growth story, but in vain as the Centre was being found wanting when it came to extending necessary assistance to develop new transport infrastructure. “It’s appalling to note that during the last eight years only about 100 km of railway track has been laid in Telangana,” he said expressing concern.

The State had just 3% of the total railway lines in the country out of which about 57% were single-lane. Lack of critical infra was also depriving Telangana of new trains and last eight years saw SCR launching only one new train – Lingampally-Vijayawada Intercity Express, KTR pointed out in the letter. In terms of spending, the State government had given ₹1,904 crore as its share against just ₹1,100 crore spent by the Centre.