Title - Centre to fully fund two bridge projects

Puducherry government has refused to fund its share offifty per cent, says Narayanasamy

After the Puducherry government refused to provide 50 per cent of its share towards two bridge projects in the union territory, the Central government has taken it upon itself to fund the projects fully and complete them as early as possible, said Union Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy.The Arasalar bridge project in Karaikal has a total cost of Rs. 74 crore, of which the Puducherry government was supposed to give 50 per cent. Since, the government has not made any move to fund the project, the Ministry of Railway has agreed to bear the full cost, he told reporters on Sunday.The Arumparthapuram bridge project will receive Rs. 24 crore from the National Highways and 7.5 crore from the Railway Ministry.Work on the Karaikal Peralam broad gauge line has also started, he said. On the new train from Puducherry to Kanyakumari, Mr. Narayanasamy said that they had received several applications asking the train timings be changed and promised that the timings would be modified after consideration by the railway officials.From next month, Puducherry - Tirupati Superfast Express would also be operated. In the next phase, Puducherry would be connected to Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

Karaikal would be connected with Bangalore and Mumbai for which new trains would be launched in the next few months, he said.

In the past four years, Puducherry has been connected to New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Mangalore, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar and Kochi and Karaikal has been connected to Tiruchi, Kochi, Thanjavur and Nagore.