It is up to Puducherry government to resolve the issues: Narayanasamy The East Coast Rail project was fraught with land acquisition issues and resolving them rested solely with the Puducherry government, said V.Narayanasamy, Union Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office, Parliamentary Affairs, and Pensions, here at the flagging off of the Tiruchirappali-Nagore passenger extended up to Karaikal, on Monday. As of date, the 179-km ECR project proposed to connect Chennai via Mamallapuram, Puducherry up to Cuddalore at an estimated cost of Rs.800 crores awaited land acquisition by the Puducherry government. Speaking at the event that also marked the formal announcement of extension of Velankanni-Nagore and Thanjavur-Nagore Demu services up to Karaikal, the Union Minister of State said that the rail proposals on the anvil here would soon chalk out a definitive space for Karaikal in the railway map of the country. Promising that efforts would be taken to realize extension of Bangalore-Salem rail service and the Mangalore-Tiruchi weekly up to Karaikal, Mr.Narayanasamy also stated that Salem-Karaikal rail proposal would be expedited and the demand for a new service from Karaikal to Kanniyakumari would be mooted. The Salem-Karaikal rail proposal also mooted as the Port destination project is expected to link Salem to Karaikal via Mayiladuthurai, Gangaikondacholapuram, Jayamkondan, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Nammakal and Salem. The 190-km project has been conceived at an estimated cumulative cost of Rs.1,020 crore. Urging the Southern Railways to take up new services along the line, Mr.Narayanasamy pointed out that Tiruchi division benefited from the revenue generated by the goods services from the private Karaikal port. The revenue earned by the Tiruchi division from Karaikal line should be ploughed back for introduction of new services. Stating that the railway budget had made a slew of proposals for Karaikal, Mr. Narayanasamy hoped that these projects would soon see fruition. It was also announced that Puducherry-Mumbai via Yashvantpur – Pune would be introduced from October. Lauding the Union Minister for the introduction of rail services here, A.M.H.Nazim, MLA, and former leader of opposition, called for a new service to provide connectivity to southern districts. Mr.Nazim also sought the extension of Velankanni-Goa weekly up to Karaikal. V.Vaithilingam appealed to the Southern Railways to provide for a halt at T.R.Pattinam (already a halt station) between Karaikal and Nagore. According to him, such a halt station would help accessibility that was significant for a passenger service. The event also threw up few other demands including the expedition of the proposed BG conversion project for 22-km Karaikal-Perallam rail link. Also, as announced earlier, the Kamban express that currently passed via Kumbakonam would, from October, pass directly via Mayiladuthurai thereby cutting short over two hours of journey to Chennai. Karaikal- Nagore passenger service was formally flagged off here in the presence of Collector J.Ashok Kumar, Additional General Manager, Southern Railways G.Narayanan; Divisional Railway Manager Manjula Rangarajan; and Additional DRM Abdul Rahman.