“The delay in implementation of the suburban rail project is owing to issues in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed for the project between the State government and Railways. Anyway, this is a Railways project, and the State government needs to give full control of the Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Ltd. (K-RIDE) to the Union government for a hurdle-free implementation of the project,” said Tejasvi Surya, Bengaluru South BJP MP. He was speaking at a media interaction on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in June 2022, promised to complete the suburban rail project, which he said was pending for 40 years, in 40 months. The deadline for the project was recently revised to 2027. Mr. Surya said, “Going by the way things were”, even 2027 was an ambitious target, but blamed the State government for the same and batted for a complete “takeover” of the project by Railways.
“I have spoken to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and they are ready to take over the project if the State government moots the proposal,” he said.
The SPV is a joint venture between the State and the Union governments, each of which contributes 20% of the funds for the project, while the remaining is raised from the market.
Mr. Surya also batted for a full-time director with technical competence in Railways for K-RIDE and said this was crucial for the efficient execution of the project. “Posting an IAS officer will not do. It is a technical job, and we need someone with technical expertise in Railways as a full-time director of K-RIDE,” he said, adding that at a recent meeting Mr. Vaishnaw had said proposals made by K-RIDE were not up to mark on technical specifications of Railways.
He also took objection to Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar batting for an extension of Namma Metro to Kanakapura and other towns around the city. “Metro, by its very definition, is meant to decongest the core city areas, and it is more costly than suburban rail. We have now mooted a proposal for extension of suburban rail to connect towns like Kanakapura, Anekal, Doddaballapur, and Nelamangala around the city,” he said.
‘State government yet to correspond with the U.S. authorities for consulate’
Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya alleged that the State government had not begun any formal correspondence with authorities of the United States of America on setting up a U.S. consulate in the city.
“Now everything has been cleared from the Union government side, the ball is in the State government’s court. While the State Ministers are giving statements that the consulate will be set up very soon, as far as my knowledge goes, there has not been a single formal communication from the State government to the U.S. authorities. The State government needs to allot land in the city and take the proposal forward,” he said.
‘Let State govt. get NOC for Mekedatu project from Tamil Nadu’
Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said the BJP’s stand on the Mekedatu project was always clear that the State has the right to build the reservoir and added that the reservoir will help Bengaluru with its drinking water needs, as we will be able to store excess water that presently flows to Tamil Nadu.
However, when questioned about the Union government not yet giving clearance to the project, he put the onus on the Congress-led State government to execute the project. “Let the State government get an NOC for the Mekedatu project from the Tamil Nadu government. Since the Congress and the DMK are anyway in alliance in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, let the State government get an NOC from Tamil Nadu. If that is done, we will work to get the project cleared from the Union government,” he said.
