Taking a swipe at the State BJP over bringing the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu at Gairsain on Thursday, Chief Minister’s media adviser Surendra Kumar said that his much-touted visit at the hill town in Chamoli district would come to nothing substantial unless he announced railway projects like extending the tracks of Bathawa Bandh- Choukhutia, Mouhan- Ramnagar and Karnprayag- Rishikesh up to Garisain. “The projects they have launched so far have nothing to do with Gairsain where the Harish Rawat Government has been taking immense pains to bring about widespread connectivity. A resolution has been passed in the Assembly, seeking `1000 crore from the Centre for laying infrastructure in Gairsain,” he said.
To buttress his claim, Kumar circulated copy of the letter CM had written to the MPs from the State and State BJP leaders on February 7, 2016, seeking their support for multiple railway projects.
He alleged that the State had got nothing in the rail budget-2016-17. “We hope that things would be better for the state in the next railway budget,” he said. “During the UPA regime, Rishikesh-Karnprayag railway line foundation stone was laid during which two leaders Satpal Maharaj and Vijay Bahuguna who are now in BJP were present. To expedite the Rishikesh -karnprayag railway line, CM met senior bureaucrats and instructed district magistrate to sort out the hindrance at the earliest. Now, lands have been acquired and the forest clearance has been procured,” the CM’s close aide said.
He stressed that the railway lines- Ramnagar-Choukhutia, Tanakpur-Bageshwar, Kichcha-Khatima, Deoband-Roorkee, Rishikesh-Doiwala, Haridwar-Kotdwar-Ramnagar direct link, Roorkee-Piran Kaliyar, Dehradun-Purola and Tanakpur-Jaulgivi-, approved during the UPA regime, should be acted upon soon.