Lok Sabha Question No. 387 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-24
Subject: Projects in Tamil Nadu
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri S Venkatesan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 387 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2024

## PROJECTS IN TAMIL NADU

387.  SHRI S VENKATESAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the line projects in Tamil Nadu with their year of inclusion  in  the  budget  and  latest  anticipated  cost  with  the expenditure incurred so far along with the expenditure due to be met with in future;
- (b) whether these new line projects have been shelved or dropped; and
- (c) if not, the reasons for delay in the execution of the said projects?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  387  BY  SHRI  S  VENKATESAN  TO  BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.07.2024  REGARDING PROJECTS IN TAMIL NADU

(a) to (c): Railway projects are sanctioned and taken up Zonal Railwaywise  and  not  State-wise  as  the  Indian  Railways'  projects  may  span across  various  State  boundaries.  However,  as  on  01.04.2024,  22 Railways infrastructures  projects  (10  new  line,  03  Gauge  conversion and  09  doubling)  of  total  length  2,587  Km,  costing 33,467  crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are in different stages of planning/sanctioning/ execution, out of which 665 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of 7,153 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024. These include:-

-  10  New  Line  Projects  of  total  length  872  Km,  costing 14,669 crore, out of which 24 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of  1,223 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.
-  03  Gauge  Conversion  Projects  of  total  length  748  Km,  costing 5,417 crore, out of which 604 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of  3,267 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.
-  09  Doubling  Projects  of  total  length  967  Km,  costing 13,381 crore, out of which 37 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of  2,664 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.

Railway infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil  Nadu  are  covered  under  Southern  Railway  (SR),  South  Central Railway  (SCR)  and  South  Western  Railway  (SWR)  zone  of  Indian Railways.  Zone-wise  and  Year-wise  details  of  all  Railway  projects including  latest  sanctioned  cost,  expenditure  and  outlay  are  made available in public domain on Indian Railways website.

Since  2014,  there  has  been  substantial  increase  in  Budget allocation  and  commensurate  commissioning  of  projects.  Budget allocation for infrastructure and safety projects falling fully/ partly in the State of Tamil Nadu has been enhanced to highest at  6,362 crore this year which is nearly seven times of the budget allocation of  922 crore in 2013-14.

Average  annual  Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  and  safety works, falling fully/ partly in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under:-

| Period   | Average Outlay   | Increase w.r.t. average allocation   |
|----------|------------------|--------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 879 crore/year   | -                                    |
| 2023-24  | 6,080 crore      | nearly 7 times                       |

In 2014-24, 1302 Km section (39 km New Line, 456 Km of Gauge Conversion and 807 km of Doubling) falling fully/partly  in the State the Tamil Nadu have been commissioned at an average rate of 130.2  Km per year.

Though  fund  allocation  has  increased  manifold  but  pace  of execution  of  project  is  dependent  on  expeditious  land  acquisition. Railway acquires the land through State Government. State Government  assesses  the  compensation  amount  and  advises  to Railway.  On  receipt  of  demand  from  State  Government,  Railway deposits compensation amount with concerned District Land acquisition  Authority.  Execution  of  important  infrastructure  projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu is held up due to delay in land acquisition and only about 807 Ha land has been acquired out of total  requirement  of  about  2749 Ha.  Railway  had  initiated  efforts  for acquisition  of  land  but  could  not  succeed  in  acquiring  land  for projects.  Support  of  the  Government  of  Tamil  Nadu  is  needed  to expedite the land acquisition.

The  completion  of  any  Railway  project  depends  on  various factors  like  quick  land  acquisition  by  State  Government,  forestry 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 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. With above constraints, every effort is being made to execute the project(s) expeditiously.

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