BHUBANESWAR: The first phase of the 68 km long inner rail corridor under construction by Mahanadi Coal Railway Limited (MCRL) in the State has neared completion with 95 per cent progress. This project is intended to provide common rail corridor for evacuation of coal from both CIL and non-CIL coal blocks in Talcher coalfield area.
It will also provide multiple entries and exit points for rakes for faster evacuation of coal and de-congest the Indian Railway system by avoiding concentration of rakes at limited entry and exit route from Talcher Coalfield.
This was informed to the Rajya Sabha by Union Minister of Coal Pralhad Joshi while responding to queries from BJD MP Prasanta Nanda. He said the railway corridor is being constructed in two phases. The Phase-I is Angul-Balram rail link (14 km) and the Phase-ll is 54 km Balram-Putugadia-Jarapada-Tentuloi link.
On the physical progress, Joshi said construction of the 14 km by IRCON is nearing completion and the scheduled commissioning was July 31. The land acquisition process has been completed including forest clearance.
Joshi said land acquisition for Phase-II is under process and e-gazette notification under Section 20A (i) for tenancy and Government non-forest land has been published on June 10, 2022. Stage-I forest clearance has been obtained on December 3, 2021. Compliance to observation for Stage-II clearance has also been submitted.
Wildlife management plan has also been approved by Principal Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Bhubaneswar on June 21, 2022.To another question on proposed production of 300 million tonne coal from Talcher area by 2030, the Minister said government is planning to produce 182.29 MT from CIL coal blocks and 87.5 MT from non-CIL coal blocks.