TS asked to release its share of funds for MMTS works

Hyderabad: Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw has asked the Telangana State government to extend its cooperation in completing the MMTS Phase II works for the benefit of students and general public.

Addressing the media here on Friday, the Union Railway Minister said that as per the agreement reached between the State and the Centre, the State has to bear its share of funding in implementing the project. While the Centre has already provided its share, it was the State which was yet to contribute for the completion of the project. Similarly, for the Bharat Net, he said that the Centre has provided its share while the State was yet to contribute.

Meanwhile, thanking the State government for handing over land for the establishment of coach factory at Kazipet, the Union Railway Minister informed that the tender process for the coach factory would be finalised within two months and the railways would also establish a Periodic Overhaul (PoH) facility there. "As the Centre is fulfilling its promises, the State should also come and support the implementation of projects benefitting the people of Telangana," he added, pointing out that the allocations to the united Andhra Pradesh for railway infrastructure development between 2009-14 was Rs 886 crore.

However, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assumed office in 2014, the Telangana State allocation alone has been increased to Rs 1,110 crore and the allocation remained constant from 2014 to 19. The allocations have been doubled during 2019-20 with Rs 2,056 crore, with an increase every year. During the current financial year, the allocation has gone up to Rs 3,048 crore, he said. "It is all there to see how the station improvements have taken place and pace of construction of doubling, tripling and quadrupling of the train tracks. The track laying per year between 2009-14 remained zero, but it has gone up to 24 km per year since 2014. With the increased allocation, it is going to be doubled," he said.

The Minister who had inspected the implementation of Kavach, the automatic railway safety system here on Friday said, "Our engineers are designing for the world. Why cannot they design for us in the areas of critical technologies in Railways and Defence to make the country self-reliant. Kavach is one of such technologies supported as part of Prime Minister's vision for a self-reliant India," he said.