NEW DELHI: Over 45 years after being sanctioned, a 75-km railway project in West Bengal is still held up for want of land. Only a 43-km stretch of the Howrah-Amta and Bargachia-Champadanga project has been commissioned over this period and no fresh time-line set by the railways for the remaining stretch due to uncertainty over land acquisition by the state government.
Railway ministry officials said the project was modified 10-12 year ago to include three more small stretches taking the total project length to 110 km, which was aimed at meeting the requirement of local suburban traffic.
Railway minister Piyush Goyal said his ministry has written several letters to successive Left and TMC governments in the state to expedite the land availability, but there has been little progress.
Sources said while the 43-km stretch between Howrah and Amta has been operational, the 32-km section from Bargachia to Champadanga has been held up “on account of non-acquisition of land by the Bengal government”. One of the officials said, “Now since the cost of land has increased manifold, the project can be taken up further only if the Bengal government provides land free of cost as per the MoU executed between the railways and the state in 1973.” The stretches that were added to the project have also been held up due to non-acquisition of land by the state.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, Goyal said there is no dearth of funds for taking up projects. “Now, we have decided to start a project only after we have the land required for it. We have identified critical and supercritical projects which would be completed in a focused manner,” he said.