Insurgency-infested Bastar region is set to be hugely benefitted by a decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving its approval for doubling of Jagdalpur-Koraput section railway line of 110.22 km with a completion cost of Rs 1839.02 crore.
Doubling of this line will greatly ease the ever increasing freight traffic between these sections thereby increasing the revenue of Railways.
The project is likely to be completed in the next seven years during 12th and 13th Plan period, officials stated.
Koraput district of Odisha and Bastar district of Chhattisgarh will be benefited through this project.
The approved doubling from Jagdalpur to Koraput traverses entirely through the States of Odisha and Chhattisgarh and is necessitated in view of the demand of increasing goods traffic over a period of time due to increase in production of goods and minerals in the vast catchment and consequent transportation requirement.
Notably in May this year the Centre had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding each with the states of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation of coal, officials informed.
Agreement for World Bank loan of US $ 1100 million for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) (Phase-2) have also been signed, they stated.
Freight train with speed of maximum 100 kms per hour will pass through Chhattisgarh in the East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai).
The train will traverse through the States of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra as the Ministry of Railways has sanctioned implementation of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) with freight train speeds of maximum 100 Kmph.
Development of two key Rail corridors in mineral-rich Chhattisgarh is now set to expand the Railway line network by 45 per cent in the State, officials stated.
The completion of 235-km Dallirajhara-Raoghat-Jagdalpur, East and East-West Rail corridor (300 km) projects will comprise a total of 535 kilometers Railway-line during the next two to four years, they stated.
Chhattisgarh currently has only 1187 route kilometers Railway lines.
It may be recalled that The Union Ministry of Railways has provided in-principle approval for the construction of Raipur-Balodabazar- Jhasarguda and Ambikapur-Barwadih ( Jharkhand) Railway line projects, officials stated.
The proposal was put forward by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh who called on Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi early this month.
The length of Raipur-Balodabazar- Jhasarguda Railway line would measure 320 kms and Ambikapur-Barwadih ( Jharkhand) Railway line would measure 120 kms.
Meanwhile, the work of laying Railway track in 17 kms stretch between Dallirajhra and Dondi had been completed, Railway officials informed in a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand in Naya Raipur recently.
The meeting was convened to review the progress of the ambitious Dallirajhra-Rowghat Railway line project.
The officials informed in the meeting that the Dallirajhra-Dondi line would soon be ready for passenger train traffic.
It was also informed in the meeting that the tendering process of laying Railway track between 18 to 42 kms under the project had been completed. The work is expected to be completed by November this year after removal of power transmission lines and availability of police force to construct a total of 17 bridges in the district.
The tendering process is underway for 42 to 77 kms stretch and the same would be completed by January 2016 and the work in the sector would commence by February 2016, it was informed.
The surveying work is also underway for laying Railway track on 77 to 97 kms stretch, it was informed in the meeting.
A successful trial run of a Railway diesel engine was also carried out between Dallirajhara till Gudum village at the speed of 20 km per hour recently.
The Chief Minister congratulated Railway engineers, officers and workers associated with the project.
In his message, Singh said that this Rail project will help in economic development of Tribal dominated Bastar region and Balod district as well.
“Upon completion of the project, Narayanpur and Kondagaon of Bastar region will be directly connected through Raipur, Bilaspur Durg and other parts of the country via Rail network. This project will open new doors of economic development for people of Bastar,” the Chief Minister said adding, the project will also supply iron ore to Bhilai Steel Plant from Rowghat.
The 235-km-long Railway line will be constructed in two phases. Work on the first phase of 95 km long track from Dallirajhara to Rowghat is in progress, while for the construction of 140 km long second phase from Rowghat to Jagdalpur, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Chhattisgarh Government and IRCON International limited which is a company of Union Railway Ministry.
The MoU was inked in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Dantewada visit on May 9 this year.
The second phase of the project will cost about `2,000 crore. For this project the Chhattisgarh Government and Central government have formed a joint venture (JV) in which NMDC, SAIl and IRCON are also party.
The Chhattisgarh Government will have 10 percent equity, NMDC 43 percent equity, SAIl 21 percent and IRCON will have 26 percent equity in
the JV.