Lok Sabha Question No. 666 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-20
Subject: Usmanabad-Tuljapur-Solapur Rail Line
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Omprakash Bhupalsinh alias Pawan Rajenimbalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.666

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.11.2019

## USMANABAD-TULJAPUR-SOLAPUR RAIL LINE

†666.  SHRI OMPRAKASH BHUPALSINH alias PAWAN RAJENIMBALKAR:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the scheme being implemented by the Government to complete the sanctioned Rail routes in the country;
- (b) whether  a  demand  has  been  made  to  complete  UsmanabadTuljapur-Solapur Rail route by the Member  of Parliament through an Unstarred Question dated 10/07/2019;
- (c) if so, whether the Railways has sanctioned 904 crore rupees in January,  2019  and  given  an  assurance  for  construction  work; and
- (d) if so, the time by which the land acquisition for the said work is likely to be completed by the railway administration?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

## (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a):  Presently,  498  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.

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

Presently, the balance length of Super Critical Projects is 2347 Km, 5676  Km  of  Critical  Projects  and  9703  Km  for  other  Doubling Projects. The throw-forward for these projects is of the order of ` 1.84 lakh  crores  and  all  out  sincere  and  focussed  approach  is  being adopted by Railway for quick execution and  early return to Railways.

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.

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 Contd..P/3

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,  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.

(b): Yes, Sir.

(c)  &  (d):  New  line  from  Solapur  to  Usmanabad  via  Tuljapur  (84.44 Km)  has  been  sanctioned  in  January,  2019,    at  a  cost  of ` 904.92 crore.  An  Outlay  of ` 5  crore  has  been  allotted  for  2019-20.  Land acquisition  proposal  for  7.45  Hectare  land  has  been  submitted  to Collector, Usmanabad. Further, preparation of land acquisition proposal for balance length has been taken up.

*****