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Railway Budget 2020-21: Meagre Funds Might Derail Major Projects

Railway Budget 2020-21: Meagre Funds Might Derail Major Projects

Railway Budget 2020-21: Meagre Funds Might Derail Major Projects
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After the Union Budget announcement for the next financial year on February 1, 2020, the Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman released the Pink Book on February 5. The documents specify the budgetary allocation for railway projects across the country.

According to the document, the government has allocated a huge outlay for Mumbai Urban Transportation Plan (MUTP) but has given marginal funding to Bengaluru Suburban Train Network that the FM mentioned during her speech. While the MUTP has got a sanction of Rs 550 crore, the Bengaluru Suburban Rail project got meagre Rs 1 crore allocation. The total cost of this project is Rs 18,600 crore. Apparently, the project has been in the pipeline for almost four decades now and was recently cleared by the Railway Board in November 2019. 

MUTP Budget Details

 The Western Railways got Rs 7,042 crore allocation while the Central Railway got another Rs 4,399 crore.  A new terminus will come up at Jogeshwari and Panvel stations which have been allocated Rs 1 crore and Rs 8 crore respectively. The heritage restoration work at Bandra has been allocated Rs 4.24 crore. Around Rs 16.06 crore has been provisioned for passenger amenities which includes new foot overbridges at Lower Parel, Prabhadevi, Goregaon and Borivali. Similarly, Rs 4.6 crore has been allotted for the maintenance of road overbridges at Charni Road, Grant Road, Elphinstone Road, Lower Parel, Dadar, Mahalaxmi and Mumbai Central. According to experts, the funding might not be able to cover the cost of even one of these bridges. 

In addition to this, the budget document stated that the Belapur-Seawood- Uran project, which will provide connectivity to the proposed Navi Mumbai airport and Raigad district, would get Rs 100 crore. The Central Railway said Rs 55 crore was allocated for the 67 km-long third line between Kalyan-Kasara stations. 

Apart from this, Rs 200 crore has been allocated for MUTP Phase 2, Rs 300 crore for MUTP Phase 3 and Rs 50 crore for MUTP Phase 3A.

Last Updated: Fri Feb 07 2020

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