State govt laxity delaying 13 railway projects: Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday sought Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's personal intervention in the early completion of 13 railway projects in Telangana.

In a detailed letter to the CM Reddy pointed out how the projects are being delayed due to the government not providing its share of expenditure and handover of required lands. Besides, the State officials were not proactive in extending cooperation in the early completion of the projects.

He said of late the TRS leaders have been targeting the Centre for not doing justice in allocation of funds for completing railway projects.

He reminded in his letter that there has been a nine-fold increase from Rs 250 crore in the 2014-15 financial year, to Rs 2,420 crore in the last seven years by 2021-22 in allocation of funds for the railway projects Similarly, the rail network of 194 route km has gone up by 356 km during the period. He said had the State provided its committed share and completed land acquisition on time the progress of the projects would have been more than what they are now.

Reddy said the State government was yet to give its share of Rs 100 crore and hand over 342 hectares for the Manoharabad-Kottapalli new railway line of 151 km.

Similarly, had the government provided its share of Rs 31 crore during the FY 2021-22 and handed over 1.02 hectares the project could be completed within next six months. Likewise, the Akkannapet-Medak new railway line of 17.20 km, MMTS Phase-II project, MMTS Phase-II extension of 33 km up to Yadradri, Bhadrachalm Road-Sattupalli new railway line of 53.2 km are facing similar issues, he pointed out.

Even in case of the Centre's wholly funded projects like Kazipet-Balarsha third line of 201 km is delayed due to handing over of land on time. The Kazipet-Vijayawada third railway line of 219.64 km was affected due to a delay in handing over land, resulting in, the project to be completed in 2023-24 might be delayed by a year.

The land required for the by-pass line work and third line work between Kazipet and Hasanparthi Road of 11.06 km, and the 66 km of line for laying the Munirabad-Mahbubangar railway line of 66 km was delayed as land was handed over only in December 2021. Not receiving assurance from Telangana on its share has been delaying the Manuguru to Ramagundam and Kondapalli to Kothagudem projects. Other railway lines facing similar problems include Krishna in Mahbubnagar district to Vikarabad and Karimnagar to Hasanparthi and Bodhan to Lathur Road for which surveys have been completed. He said the Charlapalli terminal and about 54 railway over bridges are delayed due to lack of proactive cooperation of the State government officials.