Railway Board gives in-principle nod for Hubli workshop devt

Hubli, Nov 25 (UNI) The Railway Board has given its in-principle clearance for developing the century-old Hubli workshop at a cost of Rs 156 crore, Dharwad North MP Prahlad Joshi said today.

Talking to newspersons here, he said a proposal to improve the workshop was submitted to the Railway Ministry, which was sent to the Planning Commission for approval as the amount was more than Rs 100 crore. Meanwhile, the Railway Board had given its clearance in principle.

Mr Joshi urged the South Western Railway (SWR) authorities to complete gauge conversion work between Gadag and Bagalkot by September 2007.

The Karnataka Government had agreed to sanction its share and had released Rs 20 crore of the total Rs 29 crore. The SWR now said it faced shortage of sleeper logs to complete the work.

Earlier, it gave the excuse that the state government was not releasing its share of funds. "It should complete the work by diverting the sleeper logs from other works as the line was pending for over a decade".

On the development of Hubli airport, he said discussions were held recently with the Infrastructure Development Minister and the Dharwad Deputy Commissioner had been asked to send a proposal to the ministry. About 650 acres of land were required for developing the airport to international standards.

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