The willingness of the Indian government to lay a new railway line in Sri Lanka, connecting Trincomalee in the Eastern province with Medawachchiya in the North Central, has prompted a demand for including Batticaloa, another important city in the East, too under the proposed rail network.
This project was discussed last week when Sri Lanka’s Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama held discussion with India’s Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha in New Delhi.
Welcoming the current proposal of $300 million, K. Vigneswaran, former secretary of the once-merged North-East province and who worked briefly in the Sri Lanka Railways as a civil engineer, says that instead, a new line be laid between Gal Oya (also in the North Central) and Medawachchiya. “As there are existing lines covering Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Gal Oya, you just need to extend train services.”
Dr. Vigneswaran, who holds Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Waterloo in Canada, asserts that his proposal will cost less, say around $ 200 million. “You can save some money too.” He also wants the Indian authorities to upgrade the existing lines of Gal Oya-Maho, Gal Oya-Trincomalee and Gal Oya-Batticaloa.
-The Hindu
-Agencies
