MAHABUBNAGAR : The union budget presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley was a mixed bag for the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district. While the budget allocated funds for some ongoing and pending railway projects of erstwhile Mahbubnagar district, the Centre has not sanctioned any fresh projects to the district leaving its residents fuming. The Centre has allotted `250 crore for taking up doubling of track works between Secunderabad and Mahbubnagar districts in the 2018-19 budget. Ironically, only `50 crore was allotted by the Centre in last year’s budget for the same project. The early completion of the project would lead to increase in railway services between Secunderabad and Mahbubnagar districts. The doubling facility will also be a boon for the passengers who commute between the two cities on a regular basis. It will also pave the way for launching MMTS services between the two cities in future. The central budget has also talked about electrification of railway line between Gadwal-Raichur and allocated `46.10 crore in the budget. At present, a demo rail is only being run in this line. It has also sanctioned generous funds for Mahbubnagar-Muneerabad railway line. The Uniongovernment has allotted `275 crore to this line in the budget. However, there was a dip of `25crore in the allocation to the project when compared to the last year. The rail services are currently being offered till Jaklair in this line. The completion of the all works would create access to cities from Karnataka states like Manvi, Raichur, Sindhanur, Gangavathi and Hospeta.
Karimnagar projects get lion’s share in Union budget
Karimnagar:Out of `1,813 crores allocated to Telangana in 2018-19 railway budget, the erstwhile Karimnagar district got a lion’s share. About `125 crore has been allocated for Kothapalli – Manoharabad rail line connecting Karimnagar – Rajanna-Sircilla to Hyderabad , which happens to be Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s dream project. According to estimates, `1,160 crore is required to complete the railway project that stretches over 162 km.
About `350 crore was sanctioned in the previous railway budget. Land acquisition process has been completed for this project in Medak and Siddipet districts. Meanwhile, `113.60 crore has been allocated for electrification of 178km-long Peddapalli and Nizamabad rail line. With the ongoing construction work between Khazipet-Ballarsha railway line, `301 crores have been allocated. In the year 2016-17, a budget of about `224.09 crores and `260 crores was allocated in 2017-18 union railway budget.
A peek into the past
In the past, people also had formed Railway Sadhana Samithi and demanded the railway line. People protested for long time and when they got tired, they forgot the issue. However, the Union government has refreshed the hopes of railway line with the fresh announcement. It
has recently mentioned about the railway line from Patancheru-Sangareddy-Jogipet- Medak.
