|
Waltair Railway Division under the East Coast Railway Zone has received Rs. 2857 crores as funds allocated under the Union Budget for the financial year 2023-24.
Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Anup Satpathy said that the budget allotment has been significant for the projects to be completed in 2022-23, and the focus was on improving infrastructure facilities. "There was a significant increase in the outlay for doubling, road safety works, road underbridges and overbridges and new line constructions," he added. Ongoing doubling and new line works were given priority with the allocation of Rs2,208 crores. These projects include Jeypore - Malkangiri (130 km), Jeypore - Navrangpur (38 km), Naupada - Gunupur - new broad gauge line up to Theruvali (79.15 km), Vizianagaram-Kottavalasa-3rd line (34.7 km), Jeypore - Malkangiri (130 km), Jeypore - Navarangpur (38 km), Naupada-Gunupur-new broad gauge line up to Theruvali (79.15 km) and Vizianagaram - Kottavalasa 3rd line (34.7 km). An amount of Rs. 1,644 crores was allocated in the budget under umbrella works in East Coast Railway (ECoR) Zone, out of which Waltair Division would get some share. A total of ten crores was allocated towards the creation of the new railway zone - South Coast Railway (SCoR), which will have its headquarters in Visakhapatnam, and the creation of the new Rayagada Division in ECoR. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said that a target has been set to lay new railway tracks for a distance of 7,000 kilometres in the financial year 2023-24. The minister said that the 2022-23 target of laying railway tracks for a distance of 4,500 kilometres (12 kilometres per day) has already been achieved, adding, "Before 2014, this used to be four kilometres per day. The railways have set a target of laying new railway tracks for a distance of 7,000 kilometres next year. These tracks will include new lines, doubling and gauge conversion". The government proposed a capital outlay of about Rs 2.40 lakh crore for railways, said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday while presenting the Union Budget 2023-24 in Lok Sabha. This budgeted outlay for the railways, Sitharaman told Parliament earlier in the week, is the highest ever and nine times of what it was in 2013. Vaishnaw while reacting on the Budget 2023-24, earlier in the week told ANI that Finance Minister has allocated Rs. 2.41 lakh crore for Railways which will be a big change for the sector as it will fulfil the aspirations of every passenger. "Before 2014 only 3 km of track were laid every day, it increased to 12 km of track every day in the current year, and the target for next year is 16 km of track every day," he told ANI earlier in the week. New stations have been developed, toilets have been constructed, waiting areas have been revamped, new trains have been introduced including Vanade Bharat, and there are significant changes in passenger facilities, he said earlier in the week. The minister also marked the employment generation in the sector and said that 3,64,000 employments under the railway have been generated in the last 8 years. And the government is already working on 1,45,000 more employments to people of the country, he added on Wednesday. (ANI)
|
