Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday put to rest speculations on the jurisdiction of the newly sanctioned divisional headquarters of the Railways in Gulbarga. He said the new division would be under the jurisdiction of South Western Railways (SWR).
Mr. Kharge told presspersons here that the Railway Board, with the approval of the President, had appointed M.R.N. Reddy, Chief Engineer (Construction) at SWR, Bangalore, as Officer on Special Duty of the proposed divisional headquarters of SWR with immediate effect.
The Minister said he was “more than happy”, and added that he could go even further to improve the Railways. “I consider the establishment of three new railway divisions in Gulbarga, Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, and Silchar in Assam, and construction of a new rail line between Wadi and Gadag, linking Hyderabad Karnataka with Mumbai Karnataka, my major achievements.”
Only 16 railway divisions were established in the past five decades, he said, and added that in the past nine months, three more divisions were announced.
Another major achievement was the sanction of a rail coach factory in Kolar district. The factory would have the capacity to build 500 coaches every year.
Besides these, Mr. Kharge said he considered the inauguration of the long-pending railway line projects, including Harihar-Kottur, Raichur-Gadwal, Chikmagalur-Kadur, Chickballapur-Kolar, and Bidar-Humnabad his major achievements.
“In addition, the financial condition of the Railways has improved. This year, there will be a surplus of Rs. 7,000 crore,” he said.
