Drastic cut in Kerala's Railway budget
text_fields
New Delhi: Kerala's railway budget for FY 2017-18 has suffered a drastic cut by 23 % from that of last year. And this when the Central budget liberally doled out huge outlay for states where elections are due to be held, and more noticeably where the BJP rules. Also significant are the slashing in railway's budget allocation for Delhi, ruled by Aam Admi Party (AAP), by 40% over last year. In West Bengal too it has been reduced by 14 %.
In states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh – all ruled by BJP - the rise in allocation goes upto 906%. Other BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Maharashtra have also received 400% increase in the budget.
In Kerala, for the prposed Kumali-Shabarimala route with a length of 106 kilometers, the new track gets a mere Rs 29.15 lakh. And for for the Shabarimala-Dindigal route stretching 201 kilometers, which will benefit Tamil Nadu more, the allocation is Rs 9.09 lakh.
One project to enjoy an increase is the Thirunavaya-Guruvayoor track, for which Rs 1 crore was declared last year, but will receive Rs 10 crore this year. And as regards the proposed coach factory in Palakkad, just to keep it undeleted, there is a token grant of One thousand rupees.