‘Centre has allocated very meagre funds for the State’

In a statement, Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan has said new railway line projects in Tamil Nadu had been allotted only ₹1,000 crore in the Union Budget 2022.

He listed out the new railway line projects for which meagre amounts had been allocated – Tindivanam – Ginjee – Tiruvannamalai; Tindivanam – Nagari; Athipattu – Puththur; Erode – Palani; Chennai – Cuddalore; Madurai – Aruppukottai – Thoothukudi; Sriperumbudur – Guduvancheri – Irunkattukottai – Avadi; Murappur – Dharmapuri and the doubling project of Katpadi – Villupuram section.

The MP also pointed out that mere ₹1.5 crore had been allocated for Salem – Karur – Dindigul doubling project as against the project cost of ₹1,600 crore.

Similarly, for the ₹650-crore Erode – Karur doubling project, the Centre had allotted only ₹1 crore.

This was the third consecutive budget in which the Centre had given meagre funds for Tamil Nadu projects.

However, Mr.Venkatesan welcomed the budgetary allocation of ₹59 crore for Rameswaram – Dhanushkodi new rail line project which had been planned to be completed at a cost of ₹207 crore.

For Madurai – Bodi gauge conversion work, which had been going on for 10 years, the Centre had allotted ₹125 crore and for Vanchi Maniyachchi – Nagercoil doubling project ₹425 crore and Thiruvananthapuram – Kanniyakumari doubling project ₹700 crore, he said.

The MP appealed to the Centre to expedite the projects to complete them in two years.