RailEnquiry

BANGALORE: Karnataka is riding high on expectations from two new ministers in the UPA-II government --railway minister Mallikarjuna Kharge and transport and highways minister Oscar Fernandes -- given the fact that rail and road connectivity is very poor in the state, compared to many others. Former railway ministers -- Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mamata Banerjee, to name a few - have been generous to their respective home states. So there are expectations that Kharge will follow suit and shower bouquets on Karnataka.But there's a rider here. Unlike Lalu and Mamata, Kharge doesn't have much time, as there's strong speculation of early general elections. While there have been seven railway ministers from Karnataka before Kharge, only CK Jaffer Sharief had a reasonable tenure of over four years.

State BJP chief Prahalad Joshi, who has been fighting for improvement of railway facilities in the state, said: "During the BJP's rule, the Karnataka government took up several projects under the 50:50 cost-sharing agreement. If Kharge at least ensures these projects take off, nothing like it.''

There are good reasons why there are so many expectations from the duo. Karnataka's rail connectivity and infrastructure is way behind many other prominent states, including Gujarat, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. While Gujarat and Bengal have around 36km of railway line for every 1,000 sqkm, it's about 21km in Karnataka. The total length of the railway line in the state is around 3,500km, much less than 5,328km in Gujarat, 5,535km in Maharashtra and 5,172km in Andhra Pradesh.

Upgrading roads

The state is also lagging in road connectivity. The state government has sent numerous proposals to the Union ministry of transport and highways to upgrade 4,382km of state roads to national highway (NH) standards. "Our arterial roads are awful compared to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The only way to improve them is by developing state highways to NH standards. This will not only ensure better connectivity with neighbouring states, the quality of infrastructure and maintenance of state roads will also improve. Hopefully, Fernandes will take this up on priority and sanction it at the earliest," said a senior PWD official.