NEW DELHI: With the Narendra Modi-led Central government all set to take charge next week, the Ministry of Railways has asked all its 71 divisions to furnish details of the projects pending for want of clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and other ministries.
The Ministry has written to all division heads to provide data related to rail projects stuck after they failed to bag the green clearances. The data would be handed over to the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) to address the issue. A number of railway projects, some of which are critical for transfer of coal from mining sites in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, and connectivity in hilly regions of North-East, are said to be held up for want of forest clearances.
As of March 31, 2013, 25 projects were pending for want of green clearances. Rail projects only need forest clearance for diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes.
According to the Ministry, some of the projects have been held up for over 8 to 10 years for want of various details from the state governments and other ministries.
“Some national projects to provide rail connectivity in North-East and Jammu and Kashmir are also pending. The matter came up during a meeting with the PMG and they have asked us to submit a list of all projects pending with various ministries,” sources said, adding that details would be available by the end of this month.