Lalu announces cash award for SR

Madurai, Aug 12 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today announced a cash award of Rs 25 lakh for the Southern Railway (SR) for completing the Manamadurai-Rameswaram Railway Project and the renovation of Pamban Railway Bridge.

Addressing a function marking the inauguration of the newly converted Broad Gauge section between Manamadurai and Rameswaram and flagging off of train services in the sector at Madurai Medical College ground, here this evening Mr Prasad said nearly 25 railway projects, costing Rs 8,000 crore, would be implemented in Tamil Nadu. In this year, railway projects to the tune of Rs 730 crore were being implemented.

He said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre was committed to converting all the Metre Gauge tracks into Broad Gauge tracks.

In his address, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said compared to last year, an additional Rs 224 crore had been allocated for the Southern Railway this year.

Union Minister of State for Railways R Velu said the railway employees had taken up a massive conversion work successfully at Pamban Bridge. ''If a new bridge is to be built, it would have costed around Rs 500 crore. Hence the railways has decided to take up the conversion work in the existing bridge using indigenous technology at a cost of Rs 28 crore,'' he added.

UNI