Centre approves 30 railway projects worth over Rs 83,000 crore for Telangana: Union Minister Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: The Central government has decided to take up 30 railway projects including 15 new railway lines in Telangana with a total outlay of Rs 83,543 crore, Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, the Union Minister alleged that due to the "non-cooperation" of the ruling BRS government, works on laying over 700 km railway tracks have been stalled.

"We (the Centre) have asked the state government to speed up the land acquisition for railway projects. We seek the state government's support for projects such as Phase II of Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS) in Hyderabad. The state government has been non-cooperative," Reddy, who is also Telangana BJP president, alleged.

Despite the "non-cooperation" from the state administration, the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working for development of Telangana and welfare of the people, he said.

Recently, the Railways gave approval for modernisation and redeveloping 40 railway stations in Telangana and the Prime Minister virtually laid foundation for 21 of them, Reddy said.

The Central government has released Rs 2,300 crore towards redevelopment of 40 stations, he added.

The Union Minister said between 2004 and 2014, the UPA government approved only five projects and a total of Rs 10,192 crore was sanctioned for laying only 714 km of new railway lines, whereas the Modi government approved 30 projects that includes laying of 5,239 km of new railway lines in Telangana.

He further said before 2014, only 17 km new railway line was laid every year and now under Modi government it has gone up to 55 km.

Inputs from PTI