Union Labour and Employment Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge has rejected the charge that there was nothing much for Karnataka in the Railway Budget.
The State has received a fair share of new projects and trains, the Minister said.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Kharge said out of the 22 new rail lines sanctioned, three were in Karnataka, including the new link between Wadi and Gadag, which would connect Hyderabad Karnataka and Mumbai Karnataka.
Incidentally, this is the longest of the sanctioned rail lines, covering a distance of 253 km. Over Rs. 2,000 crore would be invested in the project.
The ball was now in the State government’s court. It had to provide land to the Railways for work to begin.
On the demand to make the Solapur–Yeshwantpur Express, passing through Gulbarga, a daily service, the Minister said there was some confusion on the issue.
Inadvertently, another train running between Solapur–Yeshwantpur, passing through Bagalkot, had been made a daily service. However, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had promised to resolve the matter soon, Mr. Kharge added.
On the Gulbarga–Bidar rail line, Mr. Kharge said Rs. 25 crore had been allocated for the project for 2013–14.
The Minister said the Union Government had sanctioned one more Eklavya Model Residential School, to be established at a cost of Rs. 16 crore in Yadgir district, during 2013–14.
The school would provide quality education to students from the Scheduled Tribes in remote areas.
