It's disappointing, says Shettar

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Tuesday described the railway budget as disappointing as most projects proposed by the State government have not been incorporated.

He was pointing to the fact that Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has approved only three of the new projects proposed by the government — Gadag-Wadi, Srinivaspur-Madanpalli, Chikkaballapur-Puttaparti.

The governnent’s plea to undertake three other projects of Bijapur-Shahabad, Talaguppa-Honnavar and Hubli-Ankola on a public-private partnership basis have not been considered, he  explained.

The government had also urged the railway minister to include railway projects pertaining to Tiptur-Dudda, Gadag-Mundargi-Harapanahalli, Mangalore-Gulbarga, Alamatti-Koppal, Alamatti-Yadgir and Bijapur-Athani in the budget.

In addition, a request was made to introduce a day train for Bangalore-Mangalore (via Mysore). “But none of these projects has been sanctioned,” the chief minister stated. The railway minister has failed to sanction new rail routes and trains to Karnataka. It is regrettable that the demands of the State have been sidelined, he added.k

However, State Congress chief G Parameshwara welcoming the budget, terming it a boon for the State.

“Projects that were languishing for long have been given priority,” he explained. “The State government should co-operate with the railways for implementation by providing land and other facilities,” he said.