CHENNAI: The Ministry of Railways, which has repeatedly blamed the state government for delays in implementing railway projects already under execution, has now said that five proposed railway line projects have failed to take off as little to no progress has been made in land acquisition.
Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw made a statement in this regard at the Lok Sabha, while replying to a question from DMK MP Arun Nehru on the proposed new railway line connectivity to Perambalur.
The five projects are the Tindivanam-Tiruvannamalai new line (71 km), Attipattu-Puttur new line (88 km), Morappur-Dharmapuri new line (93 km), Mannargudi-Pattukottai new line (204 km), and Thanjavur-Pattukottai new line (152 km).
The union minister said that for the Tindivanam-Tiruvannamalai project, around 276 hectares of land are required, of which only 33 hectares have been acquired so far.
Likewise, for the Morappur-Dharmapuri project, 47 hectares have been acquired against the requirement of 93 hectares. For the remaining three projects, the Tamil Nadu government has not acquired any land so far, he said, adding that land acquisition delays continue to be the biggest bottleneck in implementing railway projects in the state.
According to the minister, the ongoing railway projects require a total of 4,612 hectares of land. Of this, the Tamil Nadu government has acquired 1,178 hectares (26%). He also listed major railway projects currently under execution, including Rs 757-crore Tambaram-Chengalpattu fourth line (30 km), Rs 993-crore Arakkonam-Chengalpattu doubling project (68 km), Rs 986-crore Erode-Karur doubling project (67 km), and Rs 1,216-crore Tirupati-Katpadi doubling project (105 km).
On the demand for a new railway line to Perambalur, Vaishnaw said a Final Location Survey (FLS) for the Namakkal-Ariyalur new line via Perambalur (116 km) has been sanctioned for preparing a detailed project report. “Sanctioning of a railway project requires consultation with various stakeholders and approvals from agencies such as NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Finance. The proposal will be processed accordingly,” he said.