Labourers working on a rail line.
| Photo Credit: Representational photo
The South Central Railway (SCR) is still awaiting the land and share of funds for three key railway projects from the Telangana government for quite some time, including the new lines of Manoharabad- Kothapalli, Akkannapet-Medak and Bhadrachalam-Kovvur.
Senior railway officials informed, on the condition of anonymity, that for the revised cost estimate of ₹2,780.78 crore (excluding cost of land) for the 151.36 km Manoharabad-Kothapalli project, forest clearance for about 15.3 hectares of forest land is pending in Rajanna Sircilla district. Another five hectares of private land has to be acquired from Siddipet, 42.4 hectares from Rajanna-Sircilla and 38.2 hectares from Karimnagar districts. About 973 hectares of land has already been acquired for the works from the districts of Siddipet, Rajanna Sircilla and Karimnagar, of the total requirement of 1,073.7 hectares.
The project was taken up on a cost-sharing basis at the initial cost estimate of ₹1,160.48 crore where the land is provided by the Telangana government for free, besides bearing 33.33% of the total cost and free annuity for the first five years, on July 2016. The Railways claims to have spent ₹1,411.79 crore and the Telangana government’s share of the revised cost is about ₹926.93 crore, of which ₹416 crore has been deposited till date. The balance amount to be deposited by the government for the current financial year is ₹511.20 crore, they explained.
For the 17.2-km Akannapet- Medak project, the State government has to share 50% of the project cost and provide land free of cost. The revised cost of the project is ₹205.68 crore and the State government’s share is ₹102.84 crore, of which ₹98.87 crore has been deposited. The Telangana government has been reminded about releasing the balance amount of ₹3.87 crore.
The third pending new line project is the 151-km Bhadrachalam–Kovvur line which travels through Telangana for 46 km. The total cost of the railway line is about ₹1,022.87 crore, the railways cost is ₹511.5 crore and the State government’s cost is ₹387.21 crore plus land cost of ₹124.22 crore.
Senior officials informed that land is required for two more projects — about 52.9 hectares of land from Khammam district (out of the total requirement of 59.2 hectares) for the Kazipet-Vujayawada third line including 6.3 hectares. Second, is for the Bibinagar-Guntur doubling project where 20.30 hectares of a total of 61.04 hectares are yet to be acquired from Yadadri-Bhuavagiri and 40.74 hectares from Nalgonda district. Besides, the railway authorities are awaiting the TG Transmission Corporation to expedite its sub-stations to take full set of trains on electric traction in the sections — Timmapur, Jankampet and Maktal.
The SCR is also seeking consent for a dozen road under bridges at level crossings located on the sections of Kazipet-Vijaywada, Marpalli-Kohir, Valigonda-Ramannapet, Manopad-Alampur road, Gundlapochampalli-Bolarum, Navipet-Basar, Jankampet-Bodhan, Kosai-Umram, Adilabad-Pimpalkutti, from the respective district Collectors.
