HYDERABAD: The Central government, which has been disregarding Telangana’s demand for a railway coach factory since the formation of the State in 2014, had sanctioned one for Maharashtra in 2018.
According to the reply to an RTI query, the said coach manufacturing unit was proposed by Maharashtra in April 2018 and was sanctioned by Railway Board in August of the same year. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 625 crore and as of September 7, 2021, an expenditure of Rs 567 crore has been incurred. The project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
As for the railway coach factory in Telangana, which was promised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Railway Ministry, in another reply to an RTI query filed by activist I Ravikumar, had said that no more coach factories were required by the Indian Railways as the projected demand was being taken care of by the already sanctioned factories spread across the country. “There is no further scope to set up any coach factory in Telangana,” the response stated.
Speaking to Express, Ravikumar said that though the promise of a coach factory was laid down in the APRA, the Centre was not keen on sanctioning it to Telangana. “It, however, readily consented to set one up at Latur in Maharashtra. At the time it was sanctioned, the BJP was in power in the State,” he said, insinuating that the Centre was playing favourites.