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Haryana cheers, Punjab sulks Chandigarh, July 3 Other than the plans to turn the Amritsar and Chandigarh Railway Stations into world-class stations, setting up of a multi-functional complex at Anandpur Sahib, starting a first ever non-stop train service between Amritsar and Kolkata, and extending the Sealdah- New Delhi train to Amritsar, no other major incentives have been announced for Punjab. There is neither mention of any deadlines to complete the Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail link nor has there been extension of the Kolkata-Ludhiana Eastern Freight Corridor to Amritsar. Even the state’s demand for sanctioning of another Western Freight Corridor (Mumbai-Delhi to Amritsar via Ludhiana) has been ignored. Railway officials said though the budget proposals have so far not announced the destinations from where special trains for transporting perishable farm produce and rural craft will start, Punjab and Haryana being a major food producing states could be the beneficiaries. The “discrimination’ against Punjab has brought a sharp reaction from state’s chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who has said that this budget shows complete insensitivity towards the economic needs of Punjab. “This budget has dashed the hopes of the industry and agriculture sector in the state. In the past 62 years, no Congress government has allotted a kilometer of additional railway line to Punjab,” he rued.On the other hand, the Railway Budget proposes to give two new rail lines to Haryana -Yamunanagar to Chandigarh via Sadhaura, Naraingarh and Dabwali to Kalanwali via Sirsa. The budget proposals have also fixed the target of construction of 250 km line between Rohtak-Jhajjar (on the Rohtak-Rewari line) during this fiscal. The train from Gorakhpur to Bhiwani has also been extended to Hisar. A new passenger train between Rewari and Phulera has been introduced on a daily basis. Terming the budget as people-friendly, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said that this budget fulfills the long-standing demands of the state. Jammu and Kashmir has got a special attention in this budget. Multi-functional complexes will be set up in Jammu Tawi, which will have facilities for shopping, food stalls, budget hotels, PCO, book stalls and underground parking. The New Delhi-Jammu Tawi train has been converted into a non-stop train under ‘Duronto’ service. It is also proposed to complete the Quazigund- Anantnag line by August 2009. This project had earlier got a setback because of difficulty in construction of line between Udhampur to Katra and Katra to Quazigund.
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