Lok Sabha Question No. 673 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-20
Subject: Survey of Railway Projects in Jharkhand
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Pashupati Nath Singh, Annpurna Devi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 673 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.11.2019

## SURVEY OF RAILWAY PROJECTS IN JHARKHAND

- †673. SHRI PASHUPATI NATH SINGH: SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the name of projects of Railways in Jharkhand which have been surveyed and sanctioned but work thereon has not yet started;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and reasons therefor;
- (c) the current status of the said projects, project-wise; and
- (d) the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard so that work can be started on the surveyed projects?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  673  BY  SHRI  PASHUPATI  NATH  SINGH AND SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 20.11.2019 REGARDING SURVEY OF RAILWAY PROJECTS IN JHARKHAND.

(a) to  (d)  :  At  present,  Railways  have  taken  up  30  railway  projects falling fully/partly in the State of Jharkhand, comprising 14 New Line projects having length of 1463 Km with aggregate cost of ₹ 25,535 crore and 16 Doubling projects having 1145 Km  with aggregate cost of ₹ 14485 crore. All these projects are under different stages of planning/approval/execution.

The  timely  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  (both  underground  and  over  ground),  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 considerations,  encountering  unforeseen  conditions  like  earthquake, flooding, excessive rains, strikes of labour, orders of Hon'ble Courts, situation  and  conditions    of  working  agencies/contractors  etc.  All these factors vary from project to project and site to site and affect the  completion time  and cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage.

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.

For  capacity  enhancement  projects,  etc.  institutional  financing  has been done by arranging loan of ₹ 1.5 lakh crore, which has increased Railways' capacity for committed fund provision for essential projects.

In the overall interest of the nation and for smooth execution of works 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 authorities concerned to  resolve  the  pending  issues  that  are  obstructing  the  progress  of projects.

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