Member Parliament Pratibha Singh called on Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi and requested him to provide multilateral funding of Rs 500 crore for construction of motorable tunnels in the State.
She informed Union Finance Minister that the main source of transportation in the State was road network and the tunnels were the only medium to reduce the distances between places. She told that State Government has prepared the DPRs for four tunnels in Shimla town for decongesting the traffic from main roads which experiences heavy vehicle rush through out the day. She told that State Government has prepared DPRs for construction of motorable tunnels from lift to Lakkar Bazar(681.25 mts), Lift to Himfed petrol pump(1134.92 mts), Himfed petrol pump to IGMC (890 mts), and Sanjauli to Dhalli (147.61 mts) and added that private parties are not interested to construct these tunnels under PPP mode because of financial un-viability. She requested him to arrange funding to these tunnels from some multi–lateral funding agency.
Mandi MP also requested him to arrange funding for tunnels between Chamunda to Holi, Karsehar to Telang and under Jalori Pass to reduce the distance and provide all weather travel facilities to remote and backward areas residents throughout the year.
Singh requested the Union Finance Ministry to provide funding for upgradation and modernization of Shimla, Kangra and Kullu airports in the state to facilitate the landing of bigger aircraft and also night landing facilities to promote tourism in the State. She requested for providing central funding in the ratio of 90:10 for all centrally sponsored schemes in the State on the pattern of North Eastern States due to similar topography, geography and other working conditions.
She also asked Union Minister to declare the Ghanauli–Baddi -Kalka and Amb-Paonta–Dehradun railway lines as project of National Importance and provide hundred percent central funding for construction of these railway projects. She also requested that construction work on Bhanupalli–Bilaspur–Beri Broad Gauge railway line should be expedited as per the cost sharing agreement held on august 2007 in PMO in the central state ratio of 75:25 of fixed cost of Rs 1046 crore and requested that the enhancement of the project cost due to delay by railway should be met by providing additionally by Finance Ministry and Planning Commission. She also requested to enhancement in Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna to Rs 150 crore keeping in view of the expansion in the agriculture activities in the state and also requested special central assistance of Rs 1000 crore to the State Government during current financial year .
Pratibha Singh demanded special financial package of Rs 7565 crore to the state to fill the gap left by 13th Finance Commission in assessing the committed liabilities of the State. She told that the gap of salary, pension and interest has been estimated at Rs 3522 crore during the year 2012-13 which will further increase to Rs 4043 crore in the year 2013-14 and requested to provide financial package to fill the gap.
