The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Government to give priority to railway zone

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Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Government to give priority to railway zone

Special Correspondent

State Minister in charge of Railways M. Vijayakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has given the highest priority for establishment of a railway zone with its headquarters in the State in the wish list presented to Union Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee for the coming Railway budget, State Minister for Railways M. Vijayakumar told the Assembly on Monday.

Responding to a calling attention motion moved by V. Surendran Pillai (KC-J), the Minister said the State could hope for proper railway infrastructure development only if a railway zone was formed with its headquarters in the State. The government, he said, also wanted the proposed coach factory at Palakkad and the wagon factory at Cherthala, both already included in the railway budget, in the 100-day package of the UPA government. He had written to the Prime Minister’s Office with this request and received a favourable reply, Mr. Vijayakumar said.

The Minister said the State was also keen about doubling and electrification of the entire stretch of railway lines from the two ends of the State and had also requested the Railway Ministry to sanction Rs.100 crore as advance assistance for construction of railway over bridges in the State.

Health package

Responding to a calling attention motion from B. Babu Prasad (Congress), Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy said the government would discuss the proposal that it must seek a Central health package exclusively for Alappuzha district which had witnessed outbreak of several waterborne diseases in recent years.

The government, she said, had already sanctioned a Rs.200-crore drinking water supply scheme for the district in view of the acute shortage of drinking water.

The Minister also informed the member that all wings of the Alappuzha Government Medical College would function at Vandanam from October 2. The government had given special attention to the healthcare needs of the district and had ensured that all the government hospitals in the district had adequate number of doctors and paramedical staff, required facilities and drugs.

The healthcare infrastructure was in place, but this could not by itself check outbreak of diseases as water bodies in the entire district was contaminated and highly polluted, the Health Minister added.

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