The Rs 2000 crore Rowghat to Jagdalpur railway line project would pass through heavily insurgency infested Kondagaon and Narayanpur districts of Bastar division in Chhattisgarh, officials stated.
The project is a joint venture between Chhattisgarh Government, NMDC, SAIl and IRCON. The work for final location survey and preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) in connection with construction of new broad gauge Railway line from Jagdalpur to Rowghat measuring an estimated 124 kms is likely to commence soon, officials stated.
The initial stretch of the first phase of the ambitious 235-km-long Dallirajhara-Rowghat-Jagdalpur Railway line project in Bastar division of Chhattisgarh has been completed, officials stated.
In all, 17 km rail track has been completed in the first phase and Chief Minister Raman Singh has expressed happiness over the achievement, they stated. 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. The Chief Minister congratulated Railway engineers, officers and workers associated with the project.
In his message, Singh had stated 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.
Notably, the 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-Rowghat-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 of Railway lines. Notably, Chhattisgarh is also set to earn estimated revenue of Rs 51,596 crore from its five mines auctioned among 29 in the country under the provisions of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 during the mining lease period.
The specified end-users of the mines are in the non-regulated sector. The mines are Chotia, Gare Palma IV-4, Gare Palma IV-5, Gare Palma IV-7, Gare-Palma Sector-IV/ 8.
So far 29 coal mines have been auctioned under the provisions of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 and the Rules made thereunder.
The auction process for non-regulated sector viz. Iron and Steel, Cement and Captive Power was based on forward bidding process where bidders had to submit their final price offer above the applicable floor price.
In case of Power sector which is a regulated one, reverse bidding methodology was adopted where bidders had to submit bids below the applicable ceiling price, which shall be taken as fuel cost in determination of power tariff.
In case, bid price reaches Rs zero in reverse bidding, the bidding is based on additional premium payable to the concerned State Government, over and above the fixed reserve price of Rs 100 per tonne.
The revenue which would accrue to the coal bearing State Government concerned comprises of Upfront payment as prescribed in the tender document, Auction proceeds and Royalty on per tonne of coal production. In addition, an estimated amount of Rs 1,41,854 crores would accrue to coal bearing States from allotment of 38 coal mines to Central and State PSU’s.
Out of mines included in Schedule-II of the Act and 13 are non-operational included in Schedule-III of the Act. Milestones for development and production of coal from the auctioned coal mines have been prescribed under the Coal Mines Development and Production Agreement signed with the Successful Bidder.
Chief Minister Raman Singh had announced earlier that Chhattisgarh’s revenue collections have increased by 10 per cent as the Central Government had accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.
About Rs 6400 crore extra funds will now be available for the State. The royalty on mining resources and the auction of coal mines will bring extra funds amounting to Rs 2,200 crore to the State.
On the other hand the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) had also been working tirelessly to improve the lives of people in Rowghat region of Kanker district, officials stated.
Notably iron ore mines in Rowghat have also been allocated for BSP and the development works being carried out here is the part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
All the 22 villages falling under the Rowghat region are tribal dominated. Here BSP is carrying out developmental works in the field of education, health, sports and culture. large numbers of tribal people are taking benefits of these works.
In the Education Sector every year BSP adopts 30 tribal children and provide them free of cost education from class 6thtill 12thin schools located in Dalli Rajhara. The children here are provided with hostel, food, dresses and sports facility free of charge.