New Delhi: A fresh war of words has erupted between the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre over railway projects in the State, with both sides blaming each other for delays and stalled works.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin on Sunday accused the central government of denying the State its fair share of railway projects in the Union Budget and subsequently shifting responsibility for delays onto the state administration.
Stalin said he had written to the prime minister to place the facts on record. He maintained that land acquisition for several projects was largely complete and that delays were mainly due to pending fund releases and approvals from the Railways.
In a post on X, the CM urged the Centre to take swift steps to revive stalled projects and strengthen rail infrastructure in the interest of both the state and the nation.
However, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, and Electronics & Information Technology, on Mondaqy rejected claims of discrimination or fund-related delays. He said the central government remained fully committed to Tamil Nadu’s development.
The minister pointed out that budgetary allocation for railway projects in the State had increased more than 8.5 times since 2014, reaching Rs7,611 crore in 2026–27.
The minister, however, stressed that progress depended on cooperation from State authorities, particularly in land acquisition. Vaishnaw said that for ongoing railway projects, only 24% of the required land had been handed over so far – 1,052 hectares out of a total requirement of 4,326 hectares.
Vaishnaw added that Rs1,465 crore had already been paid to the Tamil Nadu government towards land acquisition costs, but several key projects remained delayed due to pending land handover.
Dismissing claims that projects were stalled due to a lack of funds, the minister, in a series of posts on X, termed such assertions baseless. In his words, land acquisition remained the principal bottleneck.
