Siddapur: Secretary of Jagrut Nagarika Vedike of Siddapur Vasudev Bilgi has appealed Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi to begin the Talguppa-Siddapur new railway line work.

He submitted a memorandum in this regard to the minister recently. In the memorandum, he said that it was proposed to extend the Birur-Talguppa railway line to Siddapur in the railway budget in 2014-15. The then Railways Minister Sadananda Gowda announced the survey of Talaguppa-Siddapur railway line in the budget. Later, the then railways minister Suresh Prabhu reserved Rs 320 crore for laying the 16km-long new railway line during 2016. But the works did not take off. Now, the proposal of laying the new railway is awaiting the approval of the Railway Board. So, steps must be taken to implement the work as early as possible.

The Vedike claimed in the memorandum that surface of the land between Talguppa and Siddapur is mostly plain and the railway track laying work would not be an arduous task. Moreover, the people on the upper ghat region would be facilitated with the railway connectivity to Bengaluru and Mysuru through Talguppa. If the new line is laid between Talguppa and Siddapur, it would pave way for providing rail connectivity to Siddapur-Alnavar, Siddapur-Haveri-Hubballi and Siddapur-Kumta-Madagon. Moreover, if the rail connectivity is provided between Siddapur and Haveri through Sirsi, tourism and commercial activities would also get a much-needed boost.