Hyderabad: Telangana State Development Planning Society Vice Chairman B Vinod Kumar in a letter addressed to the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Thursday, expressed his anguish over the “hostile attitude” of the Government of India in implementing existing rail projects as well as granting new railway projects to the state of Telangana.
Kumar stated that the lackadaisical attitude of the Union Government is visible in the way projects are dealt with in Telangana. He alleged that although surveys were done on a large scale no action has been implemented by the Centre to improve railways in the state.
“Since the formation of the new state, Kothapalli- Manoharabad railway line is the only project that has taken off and is being implemented with major support from the Government of Telangana in terms of free land provision as well as 1/3rd cost contribution,” stated Kumar in his letter.
While urging the minister to encourage progressive states like Telangana, Kumar urged the minister to sanction new railway projects to Telangana in the upcoming budget, and at the same time expedite the pending projects.
He also attached a list of 24 high-priority projects as well as 11 high-potential projects that have been shelved by the railways for “untrue” reasons such as negative Rate of Return (RoR) as well as low traffic potential.
