Land for Railway Projects by 2015, Says Minister

The State Government has decided to complete land acquisition for major railway projects by the end of 2015.

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to complete land acquisition for major railway projects by the end of 2015.

 The decision was taken as land acquisition has become a major problem for most of the railway projects in the State, Minister of State for Commerce and Transport Ramesh Majhi said in a written reply to a question in the Assembly on Saturday.

“Land acquisition for major rail projects like Khurda Road-Balangir, Paradip-Haridaspur and Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road is on fast track and we hope to complete the process by the end of 2015,” the Minister said.

 Majhi said while the State Government has handed over advance possession of Government land for four projects to the Railways, some private land has also been acquired.

The Railway projects, which have been provided with private land, are Khurda Road-Balangir (1095.91 acres), Paradip-Haridaspur (1250.69 acres), Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road (1,016.44 acres) and Talcher-Bimalagarh (168 acres).

In the Railway Budget for 2014-15, a provision of `100 crore each was made for Khurda Road-Balangir, Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road and Talcher-Bimalagarh railway line projects while the Paradip-Haridaspur project was allocated `187 crore.

Except Khurda Road-Balangir, all the three projects will facilitate ore transportation for major industries being established in the State.