State Railways sort out two-decades old issues over Bengaluru suburban Project
Meeting jointly chaired by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and CM Kumaraswamy
Bengaluru, Feb 22: Decks were cleared Friday for the implementation of the two-decades old suburban railway project for the city with contentious issues being sorted out at a meeting jointly chaired by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.
Today the Railway minister took all decisions... He sorted out all the issues, Kumaraswamy told reporters after the meeting, attended by officials of the two sides.
Goyal described it as a "world class project" and said all the issues have been resolved.
He said the Centre changed its suburban railway policy amending the state and the central contribution from 80:20 to 50:50 ration.
The about Rs 17,000 crore and 160-km long project which seeks to connect the city with its suburbs has been approved by the state government recently.
In December last year, Goyal had pushed for expediting the project when a delegation led by JDS supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy met him in New Delhi to discuss the project.
The project in pipeline for two decades was announced in the union budget for 2018-19 to cater to the growth of Bengaluru Metropolis subject to mandatory approvals and sanction.
The state government had raised 19 issues, including extension of the project to important satellite towns and economically important clusters, connectivity to airport, cost of railway land on nominal lease basis and development of stations in phases.
Goyal Friday said there will be 12 interchanges and the plan drawn up was of international standard.
"At some point there will be three levels.There will be road, Metro and Railways. It is a world class project we are bringing to a world class city, the railway minister said.
The railways also agreed to give Rs 6,000 crore worth land free of charge for the project.
The land will be given at Re 1 token lease rent, which is outside the suburban policy... So, it is actually free of charge, Goyal added.
Regarding the Kolar Railway coach factory, he said it will be reviewed as the focus was on the optimum usage of the Raebareli Coach factory.
The Raebareli factory was not manufacturing coaches when the government took over in 2014. However, its production capacity was now 711 coaches and the aim was to increase it to 1,420 coaches annually.
He took a veiled dig at Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who represents Raebareli, saying though coach factory was announced in 2007 during the UPA regime, not a single coach was manufactured till 2014.
"It is constituency of a very senior leader, so the project was set up there. All the machines were lying idle.
I don't know what corruption happened there, Goyal said.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
