BENGALURU: The Union Budget brought little cheer to Karnataka as no new railway project has been allocated to the state. However, thrust has been given to existing ones.
The railway’s Pink Book, which details budget allotments of projects, was released on Wednesday. The budget fixed capital outlay for the suburban rail project (2022-23) at Rs 450 crore (capital expenditure is Rs 3,242 crore).
In October 2020, the Centre cleared the 148km suburban rail, but it’s still on paper. K-RIDE, which is executing the Rs 15,657-crore project, has floated one (Byappanahalli-Yeshwantpur-Chikkabanavara) of the four corridors so far.
Funds have been allocated for other projects like doubling of Byappanahalli- Hosur (48km) and Yeshwantpur-Channasandra (22km), Bengaluru Cantonment and Whitefield quadrupling. Railways also allocated funds for new lines like Gadag-Wadi, Shivamogga-Ranebennur, Belagavi-Dharwad, Rayadurga-Tumakuru and Kudachi-Bagalkot.
Activist Sanjeev Dyamannavar said: “We are disappointed no funds have been allocated for new projects like Cantonment suburban rail terminal, Yeshwanthpur second terminal and automatic signalling system for various sections in Bengaluru.”
Rail enthusiast Abhishek R, said: “For suburban rail, the amount allocated is the proposed outlay. In case the project does not start on ground, that amount won’t be carried forward.” Pruthvin Reddy, another activist, said there has been no improvement in railway budget allocation for Karnataka: 4,458 crore has been allocated in 2022-2023 compared to Rs 4,468 crore in 2021-2022.
