Himachal seeks funds for rail and ropeway projects

Shimla: Camping in Delhi for past three days Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday had a series of meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union railway minister Piyush Goyal and seeking their interventions in getting approvals for pending developments projects.

With Prime Minister, Thakur held discussions on new initiatives on infrastructure development projects and briefed him on follow-ups on Global Investors meet, held at Dharamshala early this month.

He asked Union finance minister for speedy clearances on externally aided projects on Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala Ropeway projects, Overhead Mass Rapid Transport System and technical assistance for Adaptive Forest Management for Water Security to Safeguard Livelihood project.

With Piyush Goel, the Chief Minister discussed issues regarding Chandigarh-Baddi rail line keeping in view the importance of transportation in the industrial belt. This will also help in attracting more investors to the state, he informed.

The Chief Minister demanded early construction of Una-Hamirpur rail link on hundred per cent funding by the government of India. Thakur told the minister that connectivity was a major issue in the state as roads are the only mode of transport.