Rourkela: The state government has delayed acquisition and handing over of land to the East Coast Railway for the Bimlagarh-Talcher railway line project. As a result, its pace of construction has slowed down. The project was supposed to be completed by 2022, but its completion is expected to be delayed by three years. Its cost has escalated to Rs 3,000 crore from Rs 806 crore, a report said.
The project is passing through Angul, Deogarh and Sundargarh districts. The project is expected to boost the economy of these districts, a report said. Commissioner of commerce and transport Madhusudan Padhi visited these districts to take stock of the land acquisition. His visit came after a PIL was filed at the High Court by Talcher-Bimlagarh-Sangram Samiti. Padhi discussed the land issues with Rourkela Collector, ADM, sub-collector and land acquisition officers.
He said all legality in the matter of land acquisition has been completed but it is getting delayed for shortage of staff. The Collector has been asked to take necessary steps in this regard.
“Due to the efforts of the government and the Sangram Samiti, 664 acres of forest land have been made available in 2019. As per information from the East Coast railway December 18, 2020, all private and government land in Talcher and Kaniha tehsils have been handed over to the railways,” revealed.
In Pallahada tehsil, 391 acres have been acquired but it has not been handed over to the railway, he said. Padhi assured that there would be no problem for construction of the railway project (82.65 km stretch) in Angul district.
The government is likely to hand over 192 acres of private land and 81 acres of government land for 32-km stretch in Deogarh by December end.
As of now, only 17.62 km from Talcher to Sunakhani has been completed while the next stretch of 16.3 km is targeted to be finished by March, 2022.
This has dealt a blow to the key railway infrastructure project as the state government has failed to acquire the required land.
According to ECoR, only 298 acres of the total 921 acres of private land could be acquired till July 14. No land could be acquired in Sundargarh and Deogarh districts. Of the total 422 acres of government land, only 162 acres could be acquired. While only seven acres have been alienated in Sundargarh, no land could be acquired in Deogarh. However, ECoR has got the final stage-II approval for the entire 664 acres of forest land from the ministry of environment and forest June 4.
Earlier, the ECoR had planned to start the project from Bimlagarh side in Sundargarh and complete it by June, 2022. The five-decade-old demand for the rail line had been sanctioned in 2003-04. The project estimate of Rs810.70 crore was approved in 2007-08 and it was revised to Rs1,928.07 crore in November, 2016 for a total length of 149.78 km.
Sundargarh MP Jual Oram July 8 had met state revenue minister Sudam Marandi to expedite the land issue which is frequently reviewed by the Prime Minister’s Office under the pro-active governance and timely implementation (PRAGATI) initiative.
PNN
