BELLARY: The Bellary District Railway Action Committee, which recently staged a "rail roko" and called a district bandh to protest against the "injustice" meted out to the Bellary-Hospet region in the Railway Budget, has decided to intensify its agitation.

At a meeting convened here on Saturday to chalk out its strategy to pressurise the Railway Ministry to provide more railway amenities and facilities for the district, it was unanimously decided to take out a "Vidhana Soudha chalo" and stage a dharna in front of the Basaveshwara statue near the Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore on March 28, to try to draw the attention of the Government to the need to provide more railway facilities for the region.

Members of the committee expressed concern over the neglect of the region in the Railway Budget, and said this was despite the fact that it had been providing the Government freight revenue to the tune of Rs. 1,500 crore every year, and the series of demonstrations it has been staging on the issue since 2002.

The members also lamented that Members of Parliament representing the State had not reacted to the neglect of the region in the Railway Budget. It was also decided at the meeting that they would try to prevail upon the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and MPs to take up the matter with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and urge him to announce a special package for the region on the lines of that announced for Jammu and Kashmir.

President of the committee K.M. Maheshwaraswamy, and members Bashir Ahmed, T.C. Goud, Thippeswamy, Nishti Rudrappa, V.S. Maridevaiah, S.P. Brahmaiah, Prema Goud and Metri Mrutyunjaya were present.

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