Title - Funds crunch halts railway works

Inadequate funds might force the railways to stop work on all ongoing projects in the state, including doubling of the Ramnagaram-Mysore line, which will reduce travel time  between Bangalore and Mysore considerably.

“We don’t have sufficient funds as we have exhausted all funds released by the Railway Board till now and the government has stopped releasing funds for the cost-sharing projects. In some cases, we have not received the necessary land for the projects. Therefore, we might have to stop the works till we get funds,” South Western Railways (SWR) Chief Administrative Officer Adesh Sharma said.

Karnataka Infrastructure Development Department Secretary Raj Kumar Khatri said the state had been releasing funds as and when required.

Khatri said, “Only Karnataka government has come forward to fund fifteen projects on a cost-sharing basis.

The state had released Rs 1,500 crore from its share of Rs 6,000 crore, whereas the railways has released less than that from their share.”

Among the 32 projects, the railways have stopped work on the Hubli-Ankola line.

Works on Shimoga-Talaguppa, Sholapur-Gadag, Kengeri-Ramanagaram and Kengeri-Bangalore lines are complete.

But till their commissioning, they would be called pending projects.

The railways had allotted works to contractors in the remaining 27 projects and these works might be stopped if the railways does not get funds to clear the bills of the contractors.

At least Rs 19,706.56 crore is required to complete these projects, which will add 3,017 km of railway lines in the state.

According to the latest estimate, Rs 14,957.10 crore is required to complete the cost-sharing projects in the state.