Lok Sabha Question No. 392 (STARRED), answered on 2022-03-30
Subject: Khurda Road- Balangir New Railway Line Project
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Basanta Kumar Panda

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.392

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.03.2022

## KHURDA ROAD-BALANGIR NEW RAILWAY LINE PROJECT

## †*392.  SHRI BASANTA KUMAR PANDA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  current  status  of  the  construction  work  on  Khurda  RoadBalangir new railway line project;
- (b) the details of the land transferred  to  the  Railways  for  the construction of the said project;
- (c)  the  details  of  the  land  acquired/to  be  acquired  by  the  State Government;
- (d)  whether the Railways is targetting to complete the land acquisition process and the construction of the said project; and
- (e)  if so, the details thereof and the timeline fixed in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 392 BY SHRI BASANTA KUMAR PANDA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 30.03.2022 REGARDING KHURDA ROAD-BALANGIR NEW RAILWAY LINE PROJECT

(a): Railway has taken up the work on Khurda Road-Bolangir New Line (289  km).  The  anticipated  cost  of  this  project  is ` 3,792  crore.  An expenditure  of ` 1,497 crore  has  been  incurred  on  the  project  upto March'21  and  an  outlay  of ` 1000.50 crore  has  been  provided  in  the financial  year  2021-22.    So  far,  105  km  length  (Khurda  Road  to Nuagaon (90 km) and Bolangir to Bichhupali (15 km)) of the project has been  commissioned.    Work  has  been  taken  up  in  Nuagaon  -  Buguda and Bichhupali- Purunakatak sections.

(b)  to  (e):  This  project  involves  acquisition  of  6162  acre  land  and diversion  of  1844  acre  forest  land,  out  of  which  5667  acre  land  has been  acquired  and  diversion  of 170  acre  forest  land  has  been completed.  Further,  State  Govt.  has  to  acquire  495  acre  land  and diversion of 1674 acre forest land.

Completion of any Railway project(s) 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(s) site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to  climatic  conditions  etc.    All  these  factors  affect  the  completion time of the project.  As such, firm completion time of the project can not be ascertained at this stage. However, Railway is making all the efforts for early completion of the project.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in budget allocations and commensurate commissioning of Infrastructure projects & safety works. Average annual Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects & safety works, falling fully/partly in State of Odisha, during 2014-19 has been  enhanced  to ` 4,126  crore  per  year  from ` 838  crore  per  year (during 2009-14), which is 392% more than average annual allocation during 2009-14 ( ` 838 Cr/Year).  These allocations have been enhanced to ` 4,568  crore  in  2019-20  (445%  more  than  average  annual  budget allocation  of  2009-14)  and ` 5,296  crore  in  2020-21  (532%  more  than the average annual allocation of 2009-14). During 2021-22 highest ever budget  outlay  of ` 6471  crore  has  been  provided  for  these  projects, which  is  672%  more  than  the  average  annual  budget  allocation  of 2009-14 ( ` 838 Cr/Year).

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in rate of commissioning of New Line, Gauge Conversion and doubling projects. During  2009-14,  267  km  sections  (56  km  New  line,  83  km  Gauge conversion  and  128  km  Doubling),  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Odisha, have been commissioned at an average rate of 53.40 km per year.    These  commissioning,  during  2014-21  has  been  increased  to 1031 km (251 km New line and 780 km  Doubling), at an average rate of  147.29  km  per  year,  which  is  176%  more  than  average  annual commissioning achieved during 2009-14.

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