§ MR. CAINEI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the Secretary of State has decided that the proposed line of railway from Bhopal to Ujjain shall be on the metre gauge, and that the greater part of the money will be provided by the Gwalior State, with a view to opening direct communication between Ujjain and the capital; whether he is aware that the line already running between Gwalior and Bhopal, as well as the trunk line from Bombay to Bhopal and Gwalior, is made on the 5.5 feet gauge, thus necessitating a break of bulk on all traffic coming to Ujjain by the new line; and if protests have been lodged by both the Begum of Bhopal and the Maharajah of Gwalior: and, if so, is it intended to insist on the decision of the India Office to lay the metre gauge between Bhopal and Ujjain?
MR. G. RUSSELLNo, Sir; no decision has yet been made as to the gauge of the line by which it is proposed to connect Bhopal, on a broad gauge railway, with Ujjain, on a narrow or metro gauge railway. The Gwalior State offered to provide funds for a metre gauge line. The answer to my hon. Friend's second question is, Yes. The Secretary of State has no knowledge of the protests referred to by my hon. Friend.