The Uttarakhand Government has almost completed the process of land acquisition for the proposed Deoband- Roorkee rail link. Now land for the project is needed to be acquired only in one village and money for the purpose would be released within two days, assured the Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh while taking part in a meeting of Project Monitoring Group (PMG) constituted by the Prime Minister Office (PMO) on Monday. Attending the meeting via Video conferencing, the CS said that the project cost of the proposed rail link has escalated to Rs791 Crore. The rail link would reduce the distance of Delhi from Dehradun by 42 km. The Uttarakhand Government has requested the Union Government to bear 50 percent of the project cost.
In the meeting review Rs3846 Crore, 6 X 130 MW Tapovan- Vishnugad hydro power project, Kichha- Khatima Rail line, Kashipur- Sitarganj road project and Char Dham road improvement projects were done by the PMG.
For the Tapovan- Vishnugad project it was informed that the NTPC would be given to extract mineral after Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project. The PMG was informed that 80 percent work on Kashipur- Sitarganj road project has been completed. A total of 46 KM water pipe lines and 126 out of earmarked 800 structures have been shifted under the project.
For the Rs11697 Crore and 889 km long Char Dham connectivity improvement project, it was informed that clearance for 396 km long has been received and forest clearance of 45 proposals out of 52 have been uploaded. In the ambitious project 73 percent land acquisition process has been completed.
The meeting was also attended by Additional Chief Secretary Om Prakash, Transport secretary D Senthil Pandian, Revenue secretary Harbans Singh Chug and Power secretary Radhika Jha.