Minister for Information, Public Relations and Infrastructure Roshan Baig has said that the cost escalation of projects, whose cost is shared by the State government and the Railways, due to the delay in their execution by the Railways is taxing the State exchequer. The issue has been taken up with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, he told presspersons here on Sunday.
Mr. Baig said that he had raised the issue with the Railway Minister during the latter’s visit to Bengaluru to participate in the Invest Karnataka 2016 programme. He also expressed the difficulty being faced by the State government to meet the increased cost of those projects.
Mr. Baig said that it would be burdensome for the government which provided the land required for the rail projects for free to bear the increase in the cost of the project. The Railways should own up the responsibility for the delay and bear the extra cost of the project, he said.
Mr. Baig said he would accompany Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during his next visit to New Delhi, and they would inform the Railway Minister about the difficulties faced by the government in meeting the increased cost of rail projects.
To a question, he said that the proposal to have a hi-speed train from Bengaluru to Mysuru had been revived after the French Ambassador said recently in Bengaluru that a semi hi-speed train could be run between the two cities on the lines of the one proposed between Delhi and Chandigarh.
The project had suffered a setback after a Chinese team which visited the rail infrastructure available between Bengaluru and Mysuru said that a hi-speed train between the two cities was not possible.
Mr. Baig said that the State government would consider the proposal to handover the acquisition of land required for the proposed Gadag-Wadi new rail line to the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB). The government had earlier decided to ask the KIADB to acquire the land for the project from Gadag to Yelburga. The land acquisition from Wadi to Yelburga was to be handed over to the Revenue Department under the Land Acquisition Act. He agreed to the fact that land acquisition by the Revenue Department as per the provisions of the Act would be a lengthy process.
It would lead to a delay and land acquisition through KIADB on consent basis would ensure speedy acquisition of land, the Minister said.
He said that the tenders for completing the unfinished work at the proposed airport at Kalaburagi had been floated by the Public Works Department and the last date for submitting the proposal was February 9.
The airport is expected to be ready by six months after the finalisation of the tenders and handing over the work.
Proposal to have a hi-speed train from Bengaluru to Mysuru may be revived
