Ongoing Railway Projects in Tamil Nadu
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 1799
ANSWERED ON: 21.09.2020
Pending Railway Projects in Tamil Nadu
Kani K. Navas
Will the Minister of Railways be pleased to state:-
(a) The total number of pending projects of Railways in Tamil Nadu, district-wise;
(b) The reasons for pendency of these projects; and
(c) The steps taken by the Government to complete these projects in time?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1799 BY SHRI K. NAVASKANI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 21.09.2020 REGARDING PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN TAMIL NADU
(a): Railway projects are sanctioned/ executed Zonal Railway wise and not State/ District wise, as Indian Railway network straddles across various State boundaries. However, as on 01.04.2020, 27 projects (9 new line, 4 Gauge conversion and 14 doubling), covering a length of 3,138 Km costing Rs.30, 961 crore, falling fully/ partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are in different stages of planning/ sanction/ execution, out of which commissioning of 706 Km length has been achieved and an expenditure of Rs.5, 909 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.
Average annual Budget Allocation for Infrastructure & safety projects, falling fully/ partly in State of Tamil Nadu, for 2014-19 has increased to Rs.1,979 crore/ year, which is 125% more than the average annual Budget outlay of 2009-14 (Rs.879 crore/ year). The outlay during 2019-20 further increased to Rs.2410 crore, which is 174% more than average annual outlay of 2009-14. In 2020-21, Budget outlay further increased to Rs.2812 crore, which is 220% more than average annual outlay of 2009-14.
(b) and (c): The completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions, etc. All these factors differ from project to project and affect the completion time of the project.
In the overall interest of the Nation and to ensure that projects are completed in time without cost overrun, lot of monitoring is done in Railways at various levels (field level, Divisional level, Zonal level and Board level) and regular meetings are held with the officials of State Government and concerned authorities regarding quick land acquisition, forestry clearances, tackling law and order issues and to resolve the pending issues that are obstructing the progress of projects.
To ensure the projects are completed even before time, Railway has adopted the concept of incentives to the contractor in the form of bonus clause in contracts which will further enhance the pace of execution of projects.
Funds for capacity enhancement projects have been arranged through institutional financing for assured funding for capacity enhancement projects.