New Delhi: The Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal, on Thursday, criticized the West Bengal Government for not allotting land for Railways projects, one of which has been pending for almost 45 years.
Currently, the Indian Railways is working on 53 projects in West Bengal. Taking a swipe at the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, who was also a Railway Minister, Goyal said the earlier projects were announced without any clarity of resources, land or timeline.
"We have a project which was announced in 1974-75. It is 45 years old. It is still incomplete because the land has not made available by the West Bengal Government. First the Left front Government, and now TMC Government, we have been pleading with them to make the land available so that we can spend more money faster to complete the projects in West Bengal," the Union Minister said during a virtual press conference.
He further alleged, "There are many local issues which hold back implementation of projects. Therefore, out of 34 projects, only token allotment can be done."
Goyal urged Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal Government to make availability of land so that all those Railway projects which were announced in past years can be speeded up and implemented.
"I want to ensure the people of West Bengal that there would be no shortage of funds if the land is available and local issues are resolved," he asserted.
The 53 projects of Indian Railways planned for West Bengal includes 16 New line projects covering a length of 1,538 km at a cost of Rs 20,117 crore, four Gauge conversion project covering a length of 1,200 km at a cost of Rs 7,993 crore and 33 Doubling projects covering a length of 1,725 km at a cost of Rs 20,165 crore.
"Budget allocation for West Bengal is the highest ever in the history of Indian Railways, ie. Rs 6,636 crore. It was 2.5 times the amount that was allotted to West Bengal during 2009-14 and it is 26 percent more than last year," Goyal said.
Mentioning about the targets of Railways, the Minister said that it is marching ahead on its bigger plan like achieving 100 percent electrification by 2023, Net Zero Carbon Emission network by 2030, modernisation of railways, ease of ticket booking, online freight services to become a 'Future Ready' network.
On the resumption of normal train services, he said that the decision will be taken in consultation with other stakeholders, including Home Ministry and State Governments, as COVID situation is being monitored.
While talking about Dedicated Freight Corridors, Piyush Goyal said monetization of assets can be taken up in stages by public listing and gradual disinvestment after DFC become fully operational, and DFCCIL starts registering healthy profit.
He further added, "The focus is now on completion of projects rather than on announcing new projects. Of the current 513 ongoing projects being implemented, Railways has identified supercritical, critical projects on capacity enhancement projects on High-Density Network/Highly Utilised Network routes, multi-tracking projects, connectivity projects & national projects. Fund allocation and targets have been planned for the next 4 years. All supercritical projects will be completed by March 2022 & others will be completed by March 2024."
It may be noted that Indian Railways has now highest ever total Plan CAPEX of Rs. 2,15,058 Crores this year with Rs. 7,500 Crores from internal resources, Rs. 1,00,258 Crores from extra-budgetary resources and Rs. 1,07,100 Crores for CAPEX allocation given in the General Budget.
Indian Railways received an outlay of Rs 1,10,055 crore, of which Rs 1,07,100 crore is for capital expenditure in the Union Budget 2021-22 presented in the Parliament.
"The Gross Budgetary allocation is Rs. 37,050 cr (53 percent) higher than BE 2020-21. In spite of the covid, this is a remarkable vindication of the progress being made being undertaken Infrastructure projects in Indian Railways," said Chairman Railway Board, Suneet Sharma.
