Can tourism of Uttarakhand receive a greater boost by the proposed Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway journey proving more adventurous than the world-renowned Kalka-Shimla oneIJ Though sounding fantastic right now, things would become the reality one day and the blessed day for the Himalayan State is not far-off. This was revealed during a meeting held between the State’s Chief Secretary and a delegation of Northern Railway at the secretariat here on Wednesday.
As per the proposed plan, along the 125-km-long railway track, 105 kms would be through tunnels. For this, Railway Development Corporation (RDC) would spend around `17000 crore in the coming years. Decks are being cleared with the first phase having been given the clearance.
Chief Secretary Shatrughan Singh instructed the officers concerned to expedite the work. Aside from the Rishikesh-Karnprayag railway line, railway over bridge (ROB), toilet construction near the railway stations, holiday homes in Kedarnath, electrification of Haridwar-Dehradun railway tracks and preparation of Ardh Kumbh figured in course of the meeting, it is learnt.
It is also learnt that a major roadblock to the dream project has been cleared with the forest land clearance involving 208 hectares having already been obtained for the first phase. Now, things are progressing regarding the second phase clearance.
The tracks will be laid at the cost of `16784.58 crore, which will be borne by Railway Development Corporation (RDC) limited. The route would have 12 railway stations, including New Rishikesh, Shivpuri, Byasi, Deoprayag, Auxilary, Maletha, Srinagar, Dhari, Rudraprayag, Gauchar and Karnprayag. The lines will criss-cross Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts.
Geological survey has been completed for all the three phases. To facilitate the project, the land required has been pegged at 588.624 hectares. Besides, the delegation has agreed to construct three ROBs at Dehradun, luxar and Haridwar. Chief secretary is learnt to have asked the NR delegation to complete ROBs before the Ardh Kumbh Mela, slated to begin on January 14 next, starts.
Regarding the matter of construction of toilets near the stations to ensure cleanliness around, the railway department will send a detailed proposal to the State government shortly and the State government would construct these toilets as part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
The June 2013 deluge having washed away the railway’s holiday home in Kedarnath, the State government has agreed to give them land for its re-construction.
Besides, the State government would return 12000 square meter areas at Harrawala where an Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam limited (UJVNl) godown has come up to the Railways.
It is decided that the high- tension underground electric line would facilitate the track electrification project between Derhadun and Haridwar. State has also asked Railway to install 49 CCTV cameras in and around Haridwar railway station.
The delegation also briefed the chief secretary about their preparation to ferry pilgrims for the upcoming Ardh Kumbh Mela-2016. Around 60 new trains will be pressed into service to ferry the pilgrims per day and 10/15 trains will be kept on reserve to cope up with the teeming crowd.
During the meeting, among those present included principal secretary Umakant Panwar, secretary CS Napalchayal, DS Garbyal, R Meenakshisundarm and northern railway GM AK Puthiya and DRM Pramod Kumar.