Bengaluru: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her presentation of the Budget 2020, made a formal announcement of a 20% equity contribution to the long-pending suburban rail project for the city.
Addressing the House on Saturday, February 1, the FM said that a suburban train project at a cost of Rs 18600 crores, will be implemented in the city. “The Centre will contribute 20% of the funding and give external funding assistance of up to 60% of the cost,” she said.
While not a new inclusion in this year’s budget, as the railway was mentioned in the previous year’s budget presentation as well, it shows the keenness of the Central Government with regard to the project, The Economic Times reports.
The 148-km suburban rail project remains pending for approval before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for approval. Railway officials have said that the final Cabinet note for the project will be placed before the CCEA after it receives clearance from the Finance Ministry.
The suburban rail project intends to provide railway connectivity to areas of Bengaluru city such as the Outer Ring Road and Electronic City, which are brimming with IT companies.
While some believe that FM Sitharaman’s mention of the project in this year’s budget indicates that the cabinet note will get the ministry’s approval, others are skeptical about the Government’s seriousness regarding the issue, the report said.
Commenting on the budget announcement, Rajkumar Dugar, convener, Citizens For Citizens (C4C) told Newskarnataka.com, “It’s a step in the right direction, but we await the final project approval, which will make it possible for KRIDE (Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited) to actually begin work on this project.”
“Bengaluru has already achieved the dubious distinction of being the No. 1 congested city in the world. Every single day is important and delays are taking a heavy toll. With today’s budget announcement, we feel good but not good enough. I wish the statement included ‘cabinet has accorded approval’ also built into it. That would have been euphoric,” he added.
Asked about how he felt about the suburban rail being mentioned in Budget 2019 without much progress thereafter, Rajkumar said, “True… That is why we are not very happy. We needed the clear final and formal approval from Union CCEA. What we got is a budget announcement. Now, we hope the CCEA approval will be done next week (Wednesday).”
