Execution of railways projects in the State is likely to come to a grinding halt as the Ministry of Railways (MoR) has taken a policy decision that no physical work would begin unless lands are available.
Sources in the Ministry has taken this decision on the basis of Indian Railways Board (IRB)’s report that ongoing projects are facing tough time due to delay in land acquisition.
However, experts feel that the decision will hamper construction of projects as the land acquisition is an ongoing process and the entire length of the project was never taken up at once.
It seems that the Ministry has not consulted any of the State Governments, said a senior official of the Odisha Government.
In Odisha, as many 35 rail line projects are going on at a total of `43,000 crore. Construction works and land acquisition are going on in tandem for many of these projects. Construction works of total 4,670-km rail lines are underway now, he said.
If the new policy comes to force, these projects will suffer a lot, he added.
But the Ministry feels that land acquisition in many projects have not been completed, resulting delay in work and causing dead investment on the partly-executed projects.
Therefore, it has decided to commence physical works for new rail line projects after completion of land acquisition process.
Major railway projects like Khurda Road-Balangir, Angul-Sukinda, Haridaspur-Paradeep New line, Talcher-Bimalagarh New line, Digha-Jaleswar New line, Jeypore-Nabarangpur New line are being taken up.
Similarly, doubling works of Sambalpur-Talcher, Tititlagarh-Sambalpur and Vizianagaram-Titilagarh are underway.
These railway projects are very important communication infrastructure in Odisha for which the State Government is extending all out support for land acquisition and has even provided free land and funds for some projects. If the new policy comes to force, the project works will be delayed, argued a senior official in Commerce and Transport Department.