Northern Railway got 101 times more funds: MP Su Venkatesan

CPI(M) leader and Madurai MP Su Venkatesan on Sunday alleged that Southern Railway was allocated Rs 308 crore for new railway line projects in the last four years as against Rs 31,008 crore for the Northern Railway in the same period, which is 101 times more.

In a statement, Venkatesan said he had released a statement pointing to the less allocation of funds — Rs 59 crore for the new line projects in Southern Railway for 2022-23 while Northern Railway got Rs 14,000 crore.

“The railway ministry should have replied, but Southern Railway management gave out a media release as if more fund was allocated to Tamil Nadu,” he said, adding he had welcomed the allocation of sufficient funds for the railway line doubling works.

“Namesake fund allocations were made for the doubling works of Katpadi-Villupuram, Karur-Salem-Dindigul and Erode-Karur projects. Instead of replying to it, the Southern Railway has given out percentage calculations to hide the truth. For the ongoing works, Rs 7,114 crore was allocated to Southern Railway. It claimed that this allocation is more than in previous years. But why should they hide allocation of Rs 66,000 crore for Northern Railway?” he asked.

Southern Railway had stated that the budget grant for Railways in Tamil Nadu is Rs 3,865 crore for 2022-23 which is 340 per cent higher than the average outlay of 2009-2014.

The CPI(M) MP urged the Southern Railway to insist the Indian Railway management and Railway Ministry allocate more funds for Tamil Nadu for the new railway projects. “We are raising our voice both in the Parliament and public forum seeking more fund allocation,” he added.