General Manager of South Western Railway A.K. Gupta has said that the Hubballi-Ankola railway line project would be on the top priority list of the zone and necessary steps would be taken to get the requisite clearances for it.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Mr. Gupta said that after some of the hurdles were cleared for the project, a revised proposal had been submitted to the Ministry concerned and they would pursue the issue to get further clearances. Chief Public Relations Officer of SWR E. Vijaya clarified that after initial clearance, a revised proposal was submitted in October, 2016. However, further queries were raised to which SWR had sent replies, she said.
To a query on land requirement for the railway projects in the State and the projects being taken up on cost-sharing basis, Mr. Gupta said, “In December 2016, we had a meeting with State government officials. Things are all right between us,” he said.
On a complaint about elected representatives not being consulted in advance while fixing the pre-budget consultation meeting, Mr. Gupta clarified that they had to compile and submit suggestions to the Railway Board as per schedule and there was not much time. “However, those elected representatives who could not attend the meeting have sent their suggestions. We are going through them and will prioritise the proposals and send them to the Railway Board, which will have two week’s time to work on them,” Mr. Gupta said.
