Fulfill suburban rail promise: Siddaramaiah to Suresh Prabhu

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who met Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi on Thursday, reminded him about the promised suburban rail for Bengaluru and Mysuru and a third rail line between Cantonment Railway Station and Whitefield.

“The Chief Minister pointed out that the Rs 22 crore proposal for the third rail line had been submitted to the Railway Board and asked that it be cleared early,” a statement from the Chief Minister's Office said.

Mr Siddaramaiah also made a case for introduction of a  high speed train in addition to the Shatabdi train between Bengaluru and Chennai and giving a new look to the  Bengaluru City, Yelahanka, Yeshwanthpur and Cantonment railway stations.

At a meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Chief  Minister lodged a protest  against the inadequate allocation made for Karnataka under the State Disaster Response Fund. 

“He conveyed the state’s displeasure at Karnataka being allocated merely Rs 1,527 crore for five years, much less than the fund allocated for states such as  Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” the  statement added. The state’s share of the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) too has fallen, according to official sources. 

“While  the state’s share of the CRF was  3.2 per cent between 1990 and 2005 it has fallen to 2.4 per cent between 2005 and 2020, putting enormous pressure on its exchequer,” sources said.