Lok Sabha Question No. 1789 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-21
Subject: Ongoing Railway Projects in Bihar
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Chandeshwar Prasad, Vijay Kumar, Veena Devi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1789

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.09.2020

## ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN BIHAR

1789. SHRI CHANDESHWAR PRASAD:

SHRI VIJAY KUMAR:

SHRIMATI VEENA DEVI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  present  status  of  various  ongoing/pending  railway  projects  in Bihar;
- (b) the steps taken by the Railways to complete the said projects in a time bound manner;
- (c) whether the Government of Bihar has proposed to bear some cost of the said projects for their timely completion and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Railways thereto;
- (d) the number of railway projects in Bihar for which survey has been conducted  and  approved  but  for  which  work  is  not  underway  as yet;
- (e)  if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the efforts made by Government to speed up the work of approved railway projects in Bihar?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN REPLY TO PARTS  (a) TO (f) OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  1789  BY  SHRI  CHANDESHWAR  PRASAD, SHRI VIJAY KUMAR, AND SHRIMATI VEENA DEVI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 21.09.2020 REGARDING ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN BIHAR

(a), (d) and (e):   Railway projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway wise and not  State-wise  as  Indian  Railways'  network  straddles  across  various State boundaries.  However, as on 01.04.2020, 57 projects (35 new lines, 05 gauge conversions and 17 doublings), costing ₹ 74,880 crore, covering a  length  of  5267  Km,  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Bihar  are  in different  stages  of  planning/approval/execution,  out  of  which  1306  Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 22,123 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.

Since  2014-15,  17  projects  of  1180  Km  length  costing ₹ 13,259  crore, falling fully/partly in Bihar, have been completed and commissioned and also, during this period 18 projects of 1,412 Km length costing ₹ 16,833 crore, falling fully/partly in Bihar, have been included in Budget.

Project-wise  detail  including  cost,  expenditure  incurred  and  outlay  are made  available in public domain  on Indian Railways website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in  >  Ministry  of  Railways  >  Railway  Board  > About Indian Railways > Railway Board Directorates > Finance (Budget) > Pink  Book  (Year)  >  Railway-wise  Works,  Machinery  &  Rolling  Stock Programme (RSP) .

Budget  Allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works  falling fully/partly in Bihar:

Average  annual  Budget  allocation  for  infrastructure  and  safety  works, falling  fully/  partly  in  State  of  Bihar  during  2014-19,  has  increased  to ₹ 3,061 crore per year from ₹ 1,132 crore per year (during 2009-14), which is 170% more than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14 and budget outlay of ₹ 4,093 crore was provided for financial year 2019-20 which is 262% more than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14. For financial year 2020-21, budget outlay of ₹ 4,489 crore has been provided for these works  which  is  297%  more  with  respect  to  average  budget  outlay  of 2009-14.

Commissioning of Infrastructure projects and safety works falling fully/partly in Bihar:

During 2014-19, 695 Km length of New Lines/Gauge Conversion/Doubling projects falling fully/partly in the State of Bihar has been commissioned which is  119% more than the commissioning during 2009-14 (318 Km). During 2019-20, 231 Km length of New Lines/Gauge Conversion/Doubling has been commissioned which is 261% more than average commissioning during 2009-14 (63.6 Km/year).

(b)  and (f):  Completion of a 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.  and  all  these  factors  differ  from  project  to project and affect the completion time of the project.

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  to  resolve  the pending issues obstructing the progress of projects.

Besides, to ensure that 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.

Further,  for  capacity  enhancement  projects  institutional  financing  has been  arranged,  which  has  increased  Railways'  capacity  for  committed fund provision for capacity enhancement projects.

(c):  So  far,  Government  of  Bihar  has  not  proposed  to  bear  cost  of  any railway project falling fully/partly in Bihar.

*****