K'taka Cong MP urges Centre to take up pending Kolar rail coach factory project

Congress MP from Karnataka K H Muniyappa called on Railway Minister Piyush Goyal here on Tuesday and requested him to start the construction of a rail coach factory in Kolar district, pending for years, at the earliest.

The setting up of a rail coach factory in Kolar was announced in the railway budget of 2011-12. In 2014, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the state and the Railway Ministry to share the project cost on a 50:50 basis, with land to be provided by the state government.

"Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has directed South Western Railway officers to hand over the land for the project. I requested the central minister to take up the project at the earliest," Muniyappa, the Kolar MP, told reporters after meeting Goyal.

Since the state government had decided to give the land for the project, the Railway Board should proceed with the factory construction in accordance with the MoU, the former Union minister said.

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah had brought the issue to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the railway minister, Muniyappa added.