In Delhi on a three-day trip, Dhumal today met Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and later Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and asked them to fulfill some of the state’s long-pending demands, including extension of the railway network in the state.

He asked the Union Railway Minister to extend the Chandigarh-Kalka Shatabdi train to Una for providing direct railway connectivity to Himachal Pradesh. He also asked for including broad-gauging of the Pathankot-Baijnath railway line at the Centre’s expense. Dhumal argued that the Centre had not done justice to the state in the railway sector and the time has come when the state should get its due attention.

He recalled his meeting with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and asked Laloo Prasad Yadav to put the execution work of the Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri railway line on the fast track to complete it under the 11th Five Year Plan.

He said work on Nangal-Talwara railway line was going on since 1973 and only 35 km railway line had been constructed so far. There was a need for Rs 200 crore to complete work on this railway line, for which necessary budgetary provisions should be made in the next budget, he demanded.

Dhumal suggested expediting work on the Chandigarh-Baddi broad gauge railway line, which the Prime Minister had announced sometime back.

In the meeting with the Union Finance Minister, Dhumal demanded setting up of premier education and health institutions like AIIMS, IITs and NIFD in order to make Himachal an education hub of the country.

Dhumal asked Chidambaram to sanction Rs 800 crore for Shimla gravity drinking water supply scheme under Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission. He said a technical feasibility of the scheme has been done by independent external consultants and a detailed project report would be ready soon. The scheme will meet Shimla’s drinking water demand till 2030 and save pumping energy of around Rs 100 crore per annum on its completion.