The Mysuru-Madikeri railway line which was supposed to be taken up till Kushalnagar in the first phase, has been allotted ₹1000 in the budget for 2022-23!
The project has remained a non-starter and is bogged down by cost escalation besides negative rate of returns. Like most new railway lines, its progress also hinges on land acquisition and there is no progress and hence the allocation is nominal so that the project is not put in the backburner or frozen, said the officials.
Mooted to put the district on the railway map of India, the project has evoked strong opposition from the local community in Kodagu besides environmentalists as it could aggravate human-animal conflict.
An earlier survey conducted by the railways indicated that the Mysuru-Kushalnagar stretch would be 87.2 km and the cost was pegged at ₹1,854.62 crore in February 2019. The cost per km is expected to be ₹21.27 crore and it required acquisition of 247.65 hectares of dry land and 275.15 hectares of wetland.
