The Hindu : Bijapur-Gadag line by Dec. 2005: Dattatreya

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 02, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Bijapur-Gadag line by Dec. 2005: Dattatreya

By Our Special Correspondent

HUBLI April 1. Bandaru Dattatreya, Union Minister of State for Railways, said today that the gauge conversion of the 200-km. Bijapur-Bagalkot-Gadag line would be completed by December 2005.

He was reacting to the statements of Vijay Sankeshwar, BJP MP for Dharwad North, and Jagadish Shettar, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, at the inauguration of the South-Western Railway Zone. The two had drawn his attention to the agitation in Bijapur and Bagalkot districts in this connection and how the State Government had reneged on its commitment of providing 26 per cent investment as agreed upon in the MoU with the Railways.

Mr. Dattatreya told presspersons that the work on Bijapur-Bagalkot section would be completed by December 2004 and in Bagalkot-Gadag section by December 2005.

Asked if the Railways would stick to the schedule even if the State Government failed to provide its share, he said: "We will stick to the schedule." He was confident that the State Government would meet its commitment, though there was no mention of it in the State Budget. "We will first spend the money available with us," he said and added that he would meet the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, in this regard.

Mr. Dattatreya said that about Rs. 176 crore had been spent on gauge conversion of the Solapur (Hotgi)-Bijapur-Bagalkot-Gadag line. Although Rs. 10 crore had been allocated in this year's budget, the Railways hoped to provide Rs. 30 crore more.

On the Hubli-Ankola line, he said work would be started from the Hubli side, after consulting the General Manager of the South-Western Railway. No date had been fixed for the completion of the Rs. 996-crore project. He ruled out any assistance to the project from the Rail Vikas Nigam's scheme of linking the four metros or from the National Safety Fund project to connect the port towns.

On the Rs. 154-crore project of doubling the 115-km.-long Hospet-Guntakal line, Mr. Dattatreya said the final location survey had been completed and Rs. 35 crore allocated. Priority would be given to the work on Tornagallu-Bellary line.

Mr. Dattatreya said the doubling of the Kuppam-Whitefield line and the laying of Hassan-Mangalore line, via Shravanabelagola, would be taken up by South-Western Railway.

Earlier, Mr. Sankeshwar alleged that prominent politicians had instigated people in Bijapur and Bagalkot districts to launch an agitation demanding that work be taken up on the Bijapur-Bagalkot-Gadag line. He and Mr. Shettar said the State Government had not released money for the project. They appealed to Mr. Dattatreya to take up the issue with the Chief Minister. Mr. Sankeshwar also urged I.G.Sanadi, Congress MP, to prevail upon Mr. Krishna to release the State's share of money for the project.

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