Railway budget a humiliation for Kerala: Rajagopal

February 26, 2013 06:32 pm | Updated December 04, 2021 11:40 pm IST - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

The Railway Budget ignored Kerala as never before, BJP leader and former Union Minister of State for Railways O. Rajagopal has said.

“This is a humiliation for Kerala,” he said. Kerala’s development needs had been ignored despite the presence of eight ministers from Kerala in the Union government.

The BJP leader said that though it was being claimed that passenger tariffs had not been increased, Rs.800 crore had been netted two months ago through tariff revision. Moreover, a regulatory commission with powers for periodic revision of tariffs was proposed to be set up. Ticket rates would go up with increase in diesel prices and other costs.

Mr. Rajagopal further noted that the increase in freight rates would hit the people harder than the passenger tariffs. Though impact would not be directly felt, it would cause all-round increase in prices.

He noted that the coach factory in Palakkad, proposed 50 years ago, was yet to materialise. Meanwhile, three other coach factories had been completed in places such Kapurthala and Rae Bareli. Political interests weighed over interests of passengers in such matters. Now, the Minister had proposed a new coach factory at Sonepet while there was only mention of plans to hold discussions with Kerala on the Palakkad coach factory.

Kerala had got no new lines. There was also no proposal for gauge conversion. Though there was a proposal for line between Palakkad and Muthalamada, this was proposed to be completed last year. However, not even preliminary works had been taken up last year. Earlier Budget proposals for the upgrade of Thiruvananthapuram railway station to international standards and opening of railway medical college were also remaining on paper, he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.