GUWAHATI: The 21.50-km long railway line project conecting Byrnihat in Meghalaya has hit a major hurdle in the form of non-availability of land even as Railway Board Chairman Aswani Lohani said the Union government was still hopeful that the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) would complete the procedures to hand over land for the project sans further delay.
“The railway project to Byrnihat has not made progress because land is still an issue. Clearing land is with the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), and the Council has not yet agreed to give us land for the same,” Lohani said.
The Railways had earlier set March 2018 as the target for completion of this project, which would take the railway track 15 km closer to Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. The deadlock, which has created uncetainty over completion of the project into uncertainty, is likely to increase the project cost much beyond the original sanctioned amount of Rs 400 crore.
It may be mentioned that local tribal organisations spearheaded by Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) im Meghalaya are opposed to the railway project unless the state government set up adequate mechanism to check influcx of illega; migrants to the hill state.
“We also had problems with land acquisition in Nagaland for the Dimapur-Zubza railway line. It was only recently that about 17 km stretch of land was made available to us. Once the entire stretch of land is made available to us, we will have no problem in completing it,” Lohani said. Railway minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu had laid the foundation for Dimapur-Zubza project on August 2, 2016.
The Railway Board Chairman also revealed that the Jiribam-Imphal railway project too was getting delayed due to various problems. “There are several problems with the Imphal project too,” Lohani said, without going into details of the problems. Local reports said contractors engaged in the project were facing extortion notices and threats, which have forced them to stop work. The original target for completion of the Jiribam-Imphal project is March 2020, he said.
Lohani said the on-going survey for laying a railway line to Tawang on the China border in Arunachal Pradesh would take at least two more years. “Final location survey is going on for the Tawang railway project. It will, however, take two more years, after which the report will be placed before the Union Cabinet, which will take the final decision on it,” the Railway Board Chairman said.