The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Coalition's efforts pay off in State

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 27, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Coalition's efforts pay off in State

Special Correspondent

Kumaraswamy, Mahima Patel pleased with the Railway Budget

BANGALORE: The repeated visits of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to New Delhi to call on Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for a fair deal for the State appear to have partly paid off.

Mr. Kumaraswamy and the Special Representative of the State in New Delhi, Mahima Patel, are pleased with the budget even though several of the proposals put forth by the State had not been attended to. "We were given a lot of hope in the pre-budget meeting which we had with the Railway Minister. Yet this budget is much better for the State compared to the previous years," said Mr. Patel.

Mr. Yediyurappa said the State's memorandum to Mr. Prasad should have received more attention. Allocation for the Shimoga-Talaguppa gauge conversion work has been made, but the budget has not approved a link to the Konkan Railway.

Mr. Kumaraswamy told The Hindu that for the projects taken up under K-RIDE (Karnataka Railway Infrastructure Development Enterprise) the Railway Ministry should enhance its financial participation. "Cost sharing ratio between the railways and the State Government should be changed to 80:20 from the present 50:50 formula for the on-going projects.

A few railway projects in the State had been taken up under K-RIDE that was constituted as part of an understanding with the Railway Ministry to hasten the pace of several pending projects. Today, railways were making impressive profits. "We are being denied a fair share of the new projects," he said.

It should be recalled here that the State had been crying for attention, in terms of Railways, for nearly a decade. It was this aspect, which prompted the State to constitute K-RIDE, which with an equal financial participation by the Railway Ministry could hasten the pace of the railway projects. Interestingly six of the railway Ministers in the past have hailed from the State — C.M. Poonacha, H.C. Dasappa, Kengal Hanumanthaiya, T.A. Pai, C.K. Jaffer Sharief and George Fernandes.

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