Telangana Govt urges Centre to expedite high-speed rail projects in Telangana
New Delhi, Oct 30 (TNT) : Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday urged Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to expedite the proposed high-speed rail corridors connecting Hyderabad with Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai, and sought early approval of their alignments.
During a meeting with the Union Minister at Rail Bhavan, the Chief Minister said the State government had reviewed the proposals received from the Centre and submitted revised proposals with certain suggestions.
No land acquisition had been initiated for the three corridors, as the process would begin only after the Centre approved the alignments, he clarified.
Revanth Reddy requested the Railway Minister to complete the alignment process at the earliest and also sought approval for several railway infrastructure projects in Telangana, including a new 130-km railway line between Vikarabad and Krishna.
He said large limestone deposits had been discovered near Tekalkode in Vikarabad district and the State government had drawn up plans to develop the region into a cement and textile hub.
The proposed railway line would support the development of the area, he said.
The Chief Minister also stressed the need for a Regional Ring Rail along the 360-km Regional Ring Road being developed around Hyderabad, stating that the project would promote connectivity and generate employment opportunities.
He sought early approval for the proposed Dornakal-Gadwal, Kalwakurthy-Macherla, Kacheguda-Jaggayyapeta (250 km), Patancheru-Adilabad (320 km), Bodhan-Latur (175 km) and Akannapet bypass (8 km) railway lines.
Revanth Reddy also requested the Centre to sanction a mega coaching and freight maintenance depot proposed by the South Central Railway at Anantaram village near Mahabubabad.
He said the State government had agreed to hand over 409 acres and one gunta for the project and urged the Centre to expedite the necessary approvals.
Minister Vivek Venkataswamy, State Government Advisor K Ramakrishna Rao, HMDA Commissioner Sarfaraz Ahmed and Telangana Bhavan Resident Commissioner Advait Kumar Singh were present.
TNT KM
