BHUBANESWAR: The State Government is yet to complete land acquisition for several key railway projects slowing down the process of their commissioning.
This was admitted by Minister of State for Commerce and Transport Ramesh Chandra Majhi in a written reply to a question from Naba Kishore Das. Land acquisition for the Khurda Road-Balangir railway line project which was started in 1999 is yet to be completed, the Minister said and added that out of 1,561 acres required, 1,359 acres have been acquired and handed over to the railway authorities. The project was sanctioned in 1994-95.
However, land acquisition moved at a faster pace in case of the Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road railway line project though it is yet to be completed. Land acquisition for the project started in 2010 and so far 1,180 acres have been acquired and handed over to the railway authorities, Majhi said.
Land acquisition has also not been completed for the Haridaspur-Paradip railway line project which is being implemented for the last 20 years. The project was sanctioned in 1995-96 and land acquisition was started in 1998. So far, 1,253 acres required for the completion of the project has been acquired by the State Government and handed over to the railway authorities, the Minister said.
The Minister said 178 acres have been acquired for the Talcher-Bimlagarh railway line project out of the 264 acres required. The project was approved in 2004-05 but the land acquisition started in 2007.
The railway budget for 2014-15 announced ` 100 crore each for Khurda Road-Balangir, Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road and Talcher-Bimalagarh railway line project while the Paradip-Haridaspur project was allocated ` 187 crore.
