HUBLI: The Railway Board has sanctioned Rs. 11.2 crore for relocating the goods shed at Navalur, situated between Hubli and Dharwad, Trilok Nath Perti, general manager, South Western Railway has said.

He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the construction of the goods shed at Navalur here on Thursday. The State Government has given 100 acres of land to South Western Railway free of cost for shifting the goods shed.

He said work on the project would commence after commissioning the project at Navalur, which was likely to take few months.

At present, the Hubli Station has only four platforms and this was coming in the way of introducing new trains, he said.

Once the goods shed was shifted, expansion of the Hubli Railway Station would be implemented. The Hubli Railway Station would be improved by providing two additional platforms, foot overbridges, a new station building and other additional facilities to passengers, Mr. Perti said.

Prior to the ceremony, Mr. Perti performed bhoomi puja for the project. Later, he examined the project of constructing the goods shed and sought information from officials. He also discussed the project with heads of various departments of South Western Railway.

K.J.S. Naidu, senior deputy general manager, SWR; R. Richardson Asir, chief administrative officer (Construction); B.B. Modgil, chief mechanical engineer; P.N. Shukla, chief operations manager; P.S. Bajwad, chief electrical engineer; G.G. Phulpagar, chief commercial manager; Rakesh Vatash, divisional railway manager, Hubli; S.S. Joshi, additional divisional railway manager and other senior railway officials were present.

It may be recalled that the Railway authorities had sought land from the State Government when the S.M. Krishna Government was in power. Although then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, during a visit to Hubli, had announced in a public meeting that the Government would provide 100 acres of land at Navalur free of cost to the Railways but that did not happen. However, the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) wrote to the South Western Railway stating that it was ready to hand over the land provided SWR remitted the price fixed by the Government.

The SWR had intimated the Railway Board that the State Government had agreed to give the land free of cost and had sought funds for the construction work at Navalur.

Objection

Dharwad North MP Pralhad Joshi has taken exception to Mr. Perti's action of conducting the "bhoomi puja" for the shifting of goods shed at Navalur without inviting any elected representative for the function. In a release issued here on Thursday, Mr. Joshi said the State Government had given land to the Railways free of cost and to achieve this himself and Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar had strived hard.

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