Work on three railway projects - Kottur- Harihar, Kolar-Chikkaballapur and Kadur -Chikkamagalur - will be completed by March 2013, said Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa.
He was speaking to reporters after holding a review of the on-going railway projects in Karnataka in the presence of Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and senior officials here on Wednesday. The work on the projects is nearing completion and the railways will dedicate them to the nation by March next year.
The railways is also planning to start work on four new lines - Kudachi- Bagalkot, Davanagere-Tumkur, Whitefield-Kolar and Tumkur-Rayadurga - in October 2012. Union Minister for Railways Mukul Roy will lay the foundation, Muniyappa said.
Referring to the longpending Hubli-Ankol railway line, the minister said that he would soon set up a meeting between the state chief secretary and union cabinet secretary and environment ministry officials in this regard.
Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science has submitted a report on the viability of the project.
The same will be placed before the meeting and efforts will be made to get environment clearance,” he added. However, it is the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee, which has to take a final call on the issue.
Muniyappa attributed the delay in the implementation of rail projects in Karnataka to issues related to land acquisitions and a few bottlenecks. “The state government has assured to resolve these issues in three months.
If that happens, we will complete all projects in five years,” he added. Shettar requested the railways to bear the cost escalation of projects that are being implemented on cost-sharing basis.
“Owing to the delay in implementation, projects costs are escalating. The Railways should implement the project on time or bear the entire cost escalation,” the CM said
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