Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has sought personal intervention of Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi to start work on Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri rail line as agreed by the Prime Minister Office in August, 2007. As per the decision the Ministry of Railways had to execute this project with funding pattern of 75:25 between the Ministry of Railways and Government of Himachal Pradesh. The cost of land was also to be included in the State’s share and balance funding was to be done by the Ministry of Railways and the cost over-runs was also to be borne by the Ministry of Railways.
Prof. Dhumal said that the Ministry of Railways changed this decision later regarding funding pattern of this rail line through the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) without consultation of the State Government which is unfortunate. He said that according to this new funding pattern 25 percent State share will included cost of land acquisition assessed as Rs. 70 crore and any increase in land cost will have to be funded extra by the State Government. He said that this was not in line with the decision taken in PMO’s meeting wherein total cost of land was included in the State share of Rs. 261.72 crore. Secondly the PMO’s meeting clearly stated that the cost over-run would be taken care of by the Railways but the CCEA decision does not state so.
Chief Minister said that discontinuation of land acquisition work of this rail line by the Ministry of Railways was also surprising as the land acquisition work of 11 villages in the initial track of 20 kms of this rail line had been completed. The notifications under section 6 and 7 had been issued by the Land Acquisition Officer, Bilaspur and discontinuation of land acquisition work would delay the completion of this project and would add to the cost over-runs and thus it would not be possible to complete this railway line by December, 2015. Dhumal urged the Union Railways Minister that land acquisition work of this rail line should be continued since the alignment of this line had already been finalized and the villages identified for land acquisition upto Beri in Bilaspur district.
Nangal –Talwara BroadGauge Rail Line
Chief Minister also urged the Union Railways Minister to make adequate budgetary provisions for 2012-13 besides restoration of cut imposed on the budget of this railway line during two years for early completion of Nangal-Talwara broadguage rail line as per commitment made by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh with the State Government in the year 2005. He said that Ministry of Railways has only laid 44 kms. track of this railway line upto Amb-Andora and the remaining 39 kms. tack of this line was yet to be laid.
Prof. Dhumal said that Ministry of Railways has imposed a cut of Rs. 10 crore in current year budget of this railway line and Rs. 12 crore during last financial year which had halted the work to a great extent. He said that continued reduction of budget would also lead to cost over-runs which factor the ministry was ignoring.
Chief Minister also urged the Union Railways Minister for construction of Baddi-Kalka broadgauge railway line as the survey of this rail line had been completed and the report submitted on 11th April, 2011. He said that as per the survey, the total cost of this railway line has been estimated as Rs. 385.45 crore for which adequate provisions should be made in the Union Budget of Railways to be presented for 2012-13.
In a letter written to Railways Minister, Dhumal said that this rail line was important for the State in view of upcoming industries, educational institutions and commercial complexes in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh area of the State.