BENGALURU: Minister of State for Railways V Somanna on Monday promised that a full-fledged managing director with technical expertise will be appointed for K-RIDE (Rail Infrastructure Development Company Karnataka Limited) soon.
Briefing newspersons at the Rail House at Cantonment railway station, he said, “We will appoint a full-time MD within 15 to 20 days.” The Railway Board has repeatedly asked the state government to appoint a full-time MD for it with the latest letter sent on March 20 by the board chairman to the chief secretary calling for it to be done at the earliest. K-RIDE does not have a permanent MD presently with V Manjula only holding its additional charge.
The minister reviewed all projects carried out by the South Western Railway Zone. He assured that projects pending for the last 15 years will be completed by December 2026. With land acquisition cited as an issue which hampered the projects, Somanna called up the district commissioners in the presence of officials and asked them to speed up the handover of land for the projects. All level crossings in the vicinity of Bengaluru will be closed and trains speeded up, he added.
The 14 crucial projects carried out by SWR which were reviewed today are: The five doubling projects of Hotgi-Kudgi-Gadag line, Yeshwanthpur-Channasandra line; Baiyappanahalli-Hosur line; Bengaluru-Whitefield line and the Hospet-Hubballi-Londa-Tinaighat-Vascao Da Gama line.
The new line projects carried out by SWR cover the following: Tumakuru-Rayadurga via Kalyandurg; Tumakuru-Chitradurga-Davangere; Ginigera-Raichur; Bagalkot-Kudachi; Gadag-Wadi; Kadur-Chikmagalur; Shivamogga-Shikaripura-Ranebennur; Belgaum-Dharwad via Kittur and Hassan Belur.