Demand to increase railway lines in NK

State is way behind the national average

 
The delegation led by former Union minister Siddu Nyamagouda on Wednesday met railway minister Mamata Banerjee and requested her to include new railway line projects such as Kudachi to Bagalkot (142km), Gadag to Haveri (84km), Davangere to Tumkur (216km), Belgaum to Dharwad (96km) in the budget. 

The survey for the Kudachi to Bagalkot line costing over Rs 816 crore was completed long ago. Even the economic survey also proved that this line would be profitable line with the returns more than 17 per cent, Nyamagouda told reporters here after meeting the minister, who he said assured the delegation that the demands would be considered.

With several new industries like sugar, cement and power generation coming up in this region, better railway connectivity would help to accelerate economic activity as well as job creation, he said.

The north Karnataka leaders also demanded increase in railway lines in the region from the existing 5km for every 1,000 sq km to the national average 22.91 sq km.

The team said in terms of railway line per 1000 sq km, Karnataka is far behind with just 15.5 km  compared to the national average, while it was worse still in north Karnataka region.
The leaders pointed out that Tamil Nadu has an average 32 km railway line, Gujarat 27km  and West Bengal 44km.

Even for meeting national average in Karnataka, the Railway Ministry has to construct minimum another 4000 km new lines.