Lok Sabha Question No. 571 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-23
Subject: Funding for Land Acquisition for Railway Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. T Sumathy Alias Thamizhachi Thangapandian

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 571 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2025

## FUNDING FOR LAND ACQUISITION FOR RAILWAY PROJECTS

## 571.  DR. T SUMATHY ALIAS THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN:

Will the Minister of  RAILWAYS  be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  provides  adequate  funds  for  the  land acquisition process to expedite long pending railway projects in Tamil Nadu, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  details  of  the  average  price  fixed  by  the  Government  for acquiring one acre of land in urban and rural areas as compared to the price provided by NHAI and other Government departments;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  provided  adequate  funds  for  the pending  and  ongoing  railway  projects  in  Tamil  Nadu,  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  taken  serious  steps  to  ensure timely  completion  of  railway  projects  in  Tamil  Nadu  pending more than five years, if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the details of the measures  taken  by the Government  to accelerate the completion of pending railway projects?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (e):  Railway  projects  are  surveyed/  sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise/UT wise/District wise as  the  Railway

projects may span across State/UT/District boundaries. Railway projects  are  sanctioned  on  the  basis  of  remunerativeness,  traffic projections, last mile connectivity, missing links and alternate routes, augmentation of congested/saturated lines, demands raised by State Governments, Central Ministries, Members of Parliament, other public representatives, Railway's own operational requirement, socioeconomic considerations etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

Railway projects in Tamil Nadu are covered by Southern Railway (SR), South Central Railway (SCR) and South Western Railway (SWR) zone of Indian  Railways.  Zonal  Railway  wise  details  of  Railway  projects  are made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

As on 01.04.2025, 15 projects (9 New Line, 03 Gauge Conversion and 03  Doubling)  of  total  length  1,700  Km,  costing  ₹22,808  Crore,  falling fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Tamil  Nadu,  are  sanctioned,  out  of  which 665 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹7,591 Crore  has  been  incurred  upto  March' 2025.  The summary  is  as under:-

| Plan Head               |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) | Expenditure upto March 2025 (₹in Cr.)   |
|-------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| New Line                |                 9 |                    812 |                            24 | 1,337                                   |
| Gauge Conversion        |                 3 |                    748 |                           604 | 3,471                                   |
| Doubling /Multitracking |                 3 |                    140 |                            37 | 2,783                                   |
| Total                   |                15 |                   1700 |                           665 | 7,591                                   |

Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under:

| Period   | Outlay                              |
|----------|-------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹879 crore/year                     |
| 2025-26  | ₹ 6,626 crore (more than 7.5 times) |

Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State  of  Tamil  Nadu  are  held  up  due  to  delay  in  land  acquisition. Status of land acquisition in Tamil Nadu is as under:

| Total Land required for Projects in Tamil Nadu   | 4315 Ha       |
|--------------------------------------------------|---------------|
| Land Acquired                                    | 1038 Ha (24%) |
| Balance Land to be acquired                      | 3277 Ha (76%) |

Support of the  Government of Tamil Nadu is needed to expedite the land acquisition. Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under:-

|   SN | Name of the project                         |   Total land required (in Ha) |   Land acquired (in Ha) |   Balance Land to be acquired (in Ha) |
|------|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|    1 | Tindivanam- Tiruvannamalai new line (71 km) |                           273 |                      33 |                                   240 |
|    2 | Attiputtu - Puttur New Line (88 km)         |                           189 |                       0 |                                   189 |
|    3 | Morappur - Dharmapuri (36 km)               |                            93 |                      42 |                                    51 |
|    4 | Mannargudi-Pattukkottai (41 km)             |                           196 |                       0 |                                   196 |
|    5 | Thanjavur-Pattukottai (52 km)               |                           152 |                       0 |                                   152 |

Government  of  India  is  geared  up  to  execute  projects,  however success depends upon the support of Government of Tamil Nadu. Land is acquired for Railway Projects through State Government who decide the compensation amount to be paid. Completion of 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  etc.  All  these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project/s.

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