MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association has urged Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to accept the Union Planning Commission’s proposal of bearing half the expenditure of doubling the railway line between Villupuram and Tuticorin.
The Union Planning Commission had rejected the Rs.822-crore proposal terming it “non-viable” and had pointed out that the mainline (via Chidambaram, Karaikudi) was serving as a second line for the Chennai-Virudhunagar section.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, its Secretary P. Subash Chandra Bose said that doubling the 272-km route of Villupuram-Madurai-Tuticorin would immensely benefit the southern region.
Increase in traffic likely
At a juncture when the State Government has planned information technology parks, tidel parks, and expansion of airports in cities such as Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchi, the traffic between these cities could increase exponentially.
People prefer the railways for commuting and also said that the railway’s freight charges were less when compared to the road transport, the press release added.
In view of the unprecedented increase in crude oil prices, electrification of railway lines was necessary to strengthen the nation’s economy, he said.
The association also lauded the various plans being implemented by Mr. Karunanidhi to make Tamil Nadu the number one industrial State in the country.
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