Southern districts of the State got a raw deal in the Interim Railway Budget 2014 presented by Union Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday.
While 73 new trains were introduced in the railway budget, all that Madurai railway division got was one new weekly express train between Nagercoil-Kacheguda and a passenger train between Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur.
Kanyakumari has got a new passenger train connecting Punalur via Thiruvananthapuram. “It is a big disappointment for the people of Southern districts as our expectations have not been met at all,” president of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and zonal railway representative N. Jegadeesan said.
A decade-old demand to operate a train connecting Madurai with Jodhpur has not been met. “We wanted the train for the large chunk of population from Gujarat and Rajasthan in Madurai. We demanded that at least the Jodhpur-Chennai be extended up to Madurai. But, now a train has been introduced to Mannargudi,” he said.
Similarly, the demand for a day-train connecting Madurai with Bangalore remained unfulfilled.
However, he hoped that adequate fund allocation would be made for the ongoing railway projects — doubling of track between Chengalpet and Dindigul and gauge conversion of Madurai-Bodi and Shencottah-Punalur sections.
If the State government came forward to share the costs more projects like doubling of track up to Kanyakumari could be executed at the earliest so that the southern districts could get more train services, P.T.K.A. Balasubramanian, general secretary of Sattur Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said.
Southern Railway Mazdoor Union has expressed disappointment over the interim railway speech being silent on the relaxation in employment of wards of the railway employees who opted for voluntary retirement scheme.
Besides, the employees were expecting a favourable announcement on withdrawal of the new pension scheme, a statement said.
