MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1119 BY SHRI P. KARUNAKARAN, SHRI KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL, SHRI YOGI ADITYA NATH, SHRI RAJU SHETTY, SHRI P.K. BIJU, SHRI RAM CHARITRA NISHAD, SHRI SULTAN AHMED, DR. A. SAMPATH, SHRI B.V. NAIK, SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR, SHRI ABHIJIT MUKHERJEE, SHRI SADASHIV LOKHANDE, SHRI DILIP PATEL, SHRI RAHUL KASWAN, SHRI OM BIRLA, SHRI KAUSHALENDRA KUMAR, KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE, SHRI ALOK SANJAR, SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA AND SHRIMATI RITI PATHAK TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.03.2016 REGARDING RAILWAY PROJECTS
(a) to (e): During the last three years and the current year i.e. 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16, 34 new line, 4 gauge conversion and 112 doubling projects have been included in Railway Budget. 61 of these projects were included subject to requisite approvals. Project-wise details are appended. Every railway project requires number of clearances from various Ministries and Departments of State/Central Governments. These, inter-alia, include clearances inherent to land acquisition, forestry clearance and permission for crossing from departments like National Highway Authority of India, Public Works Department, Irrigation canals etc; and also clearances of Archeological Survey of India if the alignment passes in vicinity of a protected monument, local bodies for projects passing through urban areas, etc which are part of project execution. Process of seeking the approvals/clearances causes delay in completion of the projects. As a result, most of the ongoing projects are running behind schedule and facing cost overruns. In addition, as per the prevailing system, funds are allocated on yearly basis based on the Gross Budgetary Support from Ministry of Finance & internal generation. In view of the uncertainty with regard to funding, no timeframe for completion of projects can be fixed. Therefore, magnitude of cost overruns cannot be quantified.
To expedite completion of projects, Railways have arranged additional funds by way of loan from LIC for funding throughput enhancement projects & regular coordination meetings are held with Ministries/Department/State Government Authorities to expedite above-mentioned clearances. Other measures taken to expedite completion are prioritization of projects, delegation of powers at field level, inviting the State Governments to participate with Railways for resource mobilization for projects, nomination of nodal officers for improved co-ordination with the State Governments etc.
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