India News | YSRC MPs Demand Railways to Foot Full Bill of Projects
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the AP Chief Secretary to expedite the process of acquiring land so that projects could make progress in the State, the ruling YSR Congress MPs on Thursday demanded that the Centre foot the entire bill of the projects as the state government was financially strained.
Amaravati, Sep 30 (PTI) A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the AP Chief Secretary to expedite the process of acquiring land so that projects could make progress in the State, the ruling YSR Congress MPs on Thursday demanded that the Centre foot the entire bill of the projects as the state government was financially strained.
At a meeting convened by South Central Railway General Manager Gajanan Mallya, the YSRC MPs in unison demanded that the Railways step up the projects with its own funds and not stall them.
In particular, the MPs wanted the Railways to complete the pending ROBs and RUBs immediately.
Anakapalli MP Satyavathi said she requested the Centre to sanction Rs 534 crore for completing the ROBs.
The SCR General Manager maintained that it was not possible for the Railways to bear the entire cost of the projects.
"The MPs wanted the Railways to fund all the projects without any state government contribution. The issue is now pending with the Railway Ministry," Mallya said.
He pointed out that they have completed some projects even without the state sharing the cost.
YSRC Rajya Sabha member Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose told PTI that they made it clear that the Railways could not treat the state government as a private entity.
"We are in financial distress. The Railways should take a macro view and complete the projects in national interest. They can't treat us like Reliance and insist on payment," Bose remarked.
Telugu Desam Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar alleged the YSRC government lacked sincerity on the issue, because of which all the major railway projects in the state were stalled.
"It is only because the state government's reluctance to share the project cost. This government is trying to run away from its responsibility on the pretext of Covid-19," he alleged.
The state government has to spend at least Rs 4,000 crore from its coffers to put the railway projects back on track but, given its precarious financial position, that looks an improbable task. Initially, the state government agreed to bear the land acquisition cost but, at Thursday's meeting with the SCR GM, the ruling party MPs skipped the land acquisition issue, sources said.
For land acquisition alone, the AP government will have to shell out a sum of Rs 1,361 crore for road-over-bridges, road-under-bridges, new (single) rail line works and doubling projects.
At the PRAGATI videoconference with Chief Secretaries of states yesterday, the Prime Minister asked the Chief Secretary to expedite the process of acquiring required land so that the projects could make some progress, a senior official who attended the conference said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)