Lok Sabha Question No. 2967 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-11
Subject: Status of Osmanabad-Tuljapur-SolapurRailway Route
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Omprakash Bhupalsinh alias Pawan Rajenimbalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2967 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.03.2020

## STATUS OF OSMANABAD-TULJAPUR-SOLAPUR RAILWAY ROUTE

†2967. SHRI OMPRAKASH BHUPALSINH ALIAS PAWAN RAJENIMBALKAR:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Union Government is formulating any plan to speed up the completion of sanctioned railway routes in the country;
- (b) if so, the present status of Osmanabad Tuljapur-Solapur railway route which is likely to be completed by the year 2024;
- (c) if so, whether the Railways has sanctioned Rs. 997 crore to complete this rail route; and
- (d) if so, the action likely to be taken by the Government on the authority responsible for not initiating the work pertaining to surveys, measurement of land, etc. along with the manner in which it is likely to be taken?

## 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.2967  BY  SHRI  OMPRAKASH  BHUPALSINH  ALIAS  PAWAN RAJENIMBALKAR  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  11.03.2020 REGARDING STATUS OF OSMANABAD-TULJAPUR-SOLAPUR RAILWAY ROUTE

(a):  498  ongoing  Railway  Projects  including  188  New  Lines,    55  Gauge Conversion and 255 Doubling Projects of total length 49,069 Km, costing ` 6.75 lakh crore are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution.

In addition, under the Umbrella Work of 2019-20, 05 New Line works of 432 Km length costing ` 6,419 crore and 32 Doubling works of 4,536 Km length costing ` 47,547  crore  have  been  included  in  Budget  booklet  of  Financial Year 2020-21.

PROJECTS  IN  MAHARASHTRA  (falling  fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra):

38 Projects costing ` 73,485 crore for 5,879 km length, falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra are under different stage of planning/approval/execution. This includes:-

-  16 New Line Projects covering a length of 2,043 km at a cost of ` 38,129 crore. Out of which, 63 Km length has been commissioned and  an  expenditure  of ` 3,479  crore  has  been  incurred  upto March'2019.
-  5  Gauge Conversion Projects covering a length of 1,135 km at a cost  of ` 11,102  crore.  Out   of  which,  500 Km  length  has  been commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ` 4324  crore  has  been incurred upto March'2019.

-  17  Doubling  Projects  covering  a  length  of  2,701  km  at  a  cost  of ` 24,255 crore. Out of which, 234 Km length has been commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ` 5,369  crore  has  been incurred upto March'2019.

## BUDGET ALLOCATION (for the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra):

-  Average Annual Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra during 2014-19 has increased to ` 4,801 crore per year from ` 1,171 crore per  year  during  2009-14.  Thus,  the  average  budget  allocation during 2014-19 is 310% more as compared to average allocation of 2009-14 ( ` 11,71 crore).
-  Total  allocation  of  Budget  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  safety works  falling  fully/  partly  in  State  of  Maharashtra,  in  2019-20  is ` 7,281 crore, which is 522% more than the average of 2009-14.This is the highest ever allocation made to the state.

## COMMISSIONING  OF  PROJECTS  (falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Maharashtra):

-  During  2009-14,  292  km  length  (111  km  New  Line,  135  km  Gage Conversion and 46 km Doubling) has been commissioned.

-  During  2014-19,  596  km  length  (87  km  New  Line,  92  km  Gage Conversion and 417 km Doubling) has been commissioned, which is  104%  more  with  respect  to  commissioning  achieved  during 2009-14.

Thorough review of throughput enhancement projects has been carried out and with focused approach, the projects have been prioritized into Super Critical Projects (58 nos), Critical Projects (68 nos.) and other throughput enhancement projects (130 nos.).

As  on  01.04.2019,  the  balance  length  of  Super  Critical  Projects  is  2,347 Km, 5,676 Km of Critical Projects. All out sincere and focused approach is being adopted by Railway for quick execution of these projects.

In  the  overall  interest  of  the  Nation  and  to  ensure  that,  projects  are completed in time without cost overrun, lot of monitoring is being 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 that are obstructing the progress of projects.

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

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  (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 conditions, 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.

(b)  to  (d):  New  line  work  from  Solapur  to  Osmanabad  via  Tuljapur  (84.44 Km)  has  been  sanctioned  in  January,  2019    at  a  cost  of ` 904.92  crore. Budget  Estimate  Outlay  of ` 5  crore  has  been  allotted  for  2019-20.  Land acquisition  proposal  for  7.45  Hectare  land  has  been  submitted  to  State Government. Further, Final Location Survey (FLS) and preparation of land acquisition proposal for balance length has been taken up.

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