Days after Railway Minister Piyush Goyal wrote to nine chief ministers, requesting them to clear hindrances in the dedicated freight corridors project, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab have reportedly expedited land acquisition process for the project.
Mr Goyal in his letter had informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was closely monitoring the development of the INR 81,000-crore project and had also questioned the delay in the project.
The deadline of the project was marked December 2021 after which it was stretched to June 2022.
Over the past week, the Railways has sorted out land acquisition issues with these five states.
In Punjab, state government’s proposal to borrow money from the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) for the construction of road-under bridges, has been approved by the Railways. The long-pending land possession issues for road under bridges and road over bridges at three locations of the state have also been resolved, as were land issues for construction of high tension line at two locations, Railways officials said.
In certain areas of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Railways has coordinated with local authorities to deploy police force to handle law and order issues.
In Bihar’s Rohtas district, officials said that three teams have been formed to expedite payment and taking physical possession of land, and police have been deployed at two road over bridges which have been approved.
The project demands maximum land in Uttar Pradesh.
Officials shared that in Kanpur, it has received the long-stuck 80-m long piece of land needed for an approach road for a road under bridge, while the remaining 40-metre will be received by September 15.
A five-km patch in Saharanpur district which was stuck for over 2 years owing to law and order issues was also cleared and possession taken by the Railways on September 6, they said, adding similar stuck land patches in the state were also cleared.
In Jharkhand’s Giridh district, INR 60 crore have been disbursed for land, while in Dhanbad, two acres of land which was stuck in a limbo, has been received.
