Two Ongoing Railway Projects Which are more than 30 Years Old.
ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS
(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1740 BY SHRI LALLU SINGH TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 13.02.2019 REGARDING ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS
(a) to (e) There are 2 ongoing railway projects which are more than 30 years old. The details of these projects are as given below:-
1. Nangal Dam-Talwara (83.74 Km) new broad gauge line & taking over siding of Mukerian-Talwara (29.16 Km) Present status & reasons for delay – The project was sanctioned in 1981-82. The section from Nangal Dam to Daulatpur Chowk (60 Km) has been commissioned. From Daulatpur Chowk to Kartoli Punjab, land acquisition has been taken up with State Governments of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The project could not be taken up at desired pace due to delay in land acquisition.
2. Howrah-Amta (42Km) and Bargachia-Champadanga (32 Km) New Line
Present status & reasons for delay – The project was sanctioned in 1974-75. Part of main project i.e., Howrah – Amta new line (42 Km) has been commissioned.
For Bargachia-Champadanga new line (32 Km) section, land was to be provided free of cost by Government of West Bengal. However, the State Government later showed inability in providing land free of cost. In 2009, it was decided that 1/3rd cost of land will be borne by the
State Government and remaining cost by Railways. Accordingly, land acquisition proposals have been sent to the State Government and `23.62 Crore have also been deposited by Railways towards their share of cost as demanded by the State Government. Due to abnormal increase in land cost, it has been decided to take up the Project as per original MOU with State Government. The State government has not handed over land for the project.
The completion of Railway projects requires acquisition of land, shifting of utilities, various statutory clearances etc. leading to time and cost overrun.
All sanctioned projects are reviewed periodically both at Ministry and Zonal Railway level for which there exist well established mechanism.
The above statement was submitted by Ministry of Railways of undermentioned Lok Sabha Question:-
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1740
TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.02.2019
ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS
1740. SHRI LALLU SINGH:
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
- (a) whether several ongoing railway projects are more than 30 years old and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the reasons for inordinate delay in implementation of these projects and the new time-limit fixed for completion of these project;
- (c) whether review is being done on time to evaluate the feasibility of these long pending projects and implementation thereof;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether any mechanism is in place to give priority to pending projects and if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
As above
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