By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Poll-bound Kerala got a dozen new trains besides the long-demanded Sabari line in the railway budget Friday, but the ruling Left Front appeared dissatisfied.
Close to a dozen stations in the state are to be renovated, two new passenger terminals will come up at two stations besides a budget hotel in the capital city — among other sops for Kerala that the Railway Budget has proposed.
State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala, expressing happiness, said that “never before has Kerala been showered with benefits like this”.
“Out of the 82 new trains, 12 trains are for Kerala, is it not a giant slice for Kerala. Besides these, the Palakkad Coach Factory will soon be a reality, and the wagon manufacturing factory near Alappuzha is through,” said Chennithala.
M.P. Rajesh, Communist Party of India-Marxist MP from Palakkad, while agreeing that there are “some good things”, said the demand for new trains from Kerala to Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai has been left out.
“Moreover, the Palakkad Coach Factory has been hanging fire for long,” said Rajesh.
The youth wing of the CPI staged a protest march in Kochi saying that the demand for a separate railway zone has again not been considered.
Speaking to IANS, senior opposition leader P.C. George (Kerala Cong-M) welcomed the Rs.83 crore earmarked for the proposed Sabari rail project.
“This has been a long standing demand so as to make the Sabarimala pilgrimage a smooth affair,” said George.
In the last railway budget the state got seven new trains.