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Our Bureau

Mr R. Velu, Minister of State for Railways.

Coimbatore , Jan. 22

THE Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has assured that funding would not be a constraint for the execution of sanctioned railway projects, which, as per estimates, required Rs 46,000 crore, according to the Union Minister of State for Railways, Mr R.Velu.

Inaugurating the final location survey work for a new broad gauge line in the Chamarajanagar-Sathyamangalam-Mettupalayam route at a function in Bannari in Erode district on Saturday, he said, during a recent meeting, he told the Prime Minister that even if an annual allocation of about Rs 5,000 crore is made for the implementation of the projects it would take 10 years for the sanctioned projects to be completed.

Hence, he requested the Prime Minister to make some special arrangements to meet the huge financial outlay for the pending projects.

Mr Velu quoted the Prime Minister as saying "I will see that the finance is made available and all the schemes are completed within a matter of five years."

He said that though the Chamarajanagar-Sathyamangalam-Mettupalayam project cost of Rs 1,066 crore might look to be huge, finance would not be a constraint and he, along with two other Union Ministers from the region — Mr E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Minister of State for Commerce and Industries, and Ms Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment — would push for the execution of the project.

Referring to the plea made by Ms Jagadeesan for early completion of the Salem-Karur railway line project, Mr Velu said already about Rs 70 crore had been spent on the project and wherever there were no problems with land acquisition, the work has been going on without any delay.

Mr Elangovan wanted rail link to be provided to Mettur and Erode from Sathyamangalam.

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