Rail projects: Govt ready to share cost

BANGALORE: Chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday ended uncertainty over the fate of railway projects whose costs are shared equally by the state and the Centre. He said the state government will continue to provide 50% financial assistance to the ongoing projects. Ahead of the railway budget, he had written to railway minister DV Sadananda Gowda that the pact between the state and Centre on sharing the cost of projects equally be modified. He wanted the Centre to bear two-third of the cost of projects, saying that the state will contribute the remaining one third. Replying to a debate in the council on his controversial letter to the railway minister, Siddaramaiah said the government will continue with the old pattern of cost-sharing if the railway ministry fails to reconsider his demand. "I never said the government will not give funds to railway projects. I was only requesting Gowda to reconsider cost sharing since it was burdening the state exchequer at the cost of several public programmes,'' the CM said. He said the sharing of cost of railway projects on 50:50 ratio was initiated in 1996 when he was finance minister and subsequent governments continued the pattern. BangaloreMysore high-speed train CM Siddaramaiah does not seem impressed with railway minister D V Sadananda Gowda's bonanza of a high-speed train between Mysore and Chennai via Bangalore. "It would have been viable if Gowda had considered a high-speed train between Bangalore and Mysore. This (the railway minister's proposal) would make the trip longer and number of trips fewer," the CM told opposition leader K S Eshwarappa in the council on Thursday. -TOI