Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand, Manorama Dobriyal Sharma of the Congress has written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu strongly objecting to the construction of Dehradun-Kalsi railway line being termed as an unprofitable plan by the Ministry.
Addressing the media in Dehradun on Friday, the MP said that she has also requested the lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs of the BJP from Uttarakhand to strongly advocate for railway projects in the State.Sharma said that she had asked a question about the Dehradun-Kalsi railway line to the Railways minister in the Rajya Sabha in response to which the minister had informed her that initial engineering and traffic surveys for a new railway line between Dehradun and Kalsi through two routes was completed in 2009-10.
The first survey of the 43.5 kms long Dehradun-Barwala-Kalsi new railway line put the estimated project cost at about Rs 557 crore while the second survey of the 47 kms long Dehradun to Haripur Kalsi line put the estimated project cost at Rs 676 crore. The project could not be taken forward as the Planning Commission did not give its approval in principle to the unprofitable project, it was stated. Objecting to this stance, Sharma pointed out that only profitability cannot be considered the deciding factor as the railways is also responsible for facilitating development with railways being a major foundation of social and economic development. She alleged that the BJP led NDA government at the Centre intends to stall development in Uttarakhand as on the one hand it is talking of dissolving the Planning Commission while on the other hand stalling railway projects in Uttarakhand citing the Planning Commission’s stance.
Sharma also raised the issue of slow pace of work on the Delhi to Dehradun national highway number 58 via Meerut-Muzaffarnagar-Roorkee and Haridwar which might not be completed in time for the 2016 Ardh Kumbh Mela to be held in Haridwar. The minister of state for Road Transport and Highways P Radhakrishnan informed her that the work of four-laning the old NH 58 and NH 72 at Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar and Haridwar-Dehradun stretches was progressing at a slow pace but all efforts are being made to make these national highways fit for traffic in time for the 2016 Ardh Kumbh.