(a) the current status of the Railways Dedicated Freight Corridor project in the country;
(b) whether the Railways have been facing a lot of problems for the land acquisition and in disbursement of compensation money;
(c) if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA )
(a): Two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) viz. Eastern DFC from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal and Western DFC from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai to Dadri near Delhi have been sanctioned and implementation taken up. Civil construction contracts of 1100 km have been awarded. Civil work on Khurja-Kanpur Section (343 kms) of Eastern DFC and Rewari -Palanpur Section (625 kms) of Western DFC have commenced and approximately 25% of work in Khurja-Kanpur Section & 12% in Rewari -Palanpur Section have been completed. Contract for construction of 54 major and important bridges in Vaitarna-Bharuch Section of Western DFC has also been awarded and work on 26 bridges has been completed so far. Electrification contract for 930 km of Western DFC has also been awarded recently. Work in Mughalsarai-Sonnagar Section of Eastern DFC is also progressing well. Award of over 9000 Hectare of land has been declared under Section 20F of Railway Amendment Act 2008 and compensation award of Rs. 6512 crore has also been declared as per provision of Railway Amendment Act 2008.
(b) & (c): While there are objections of a routine nature including certain demands for change in alignment in some pockets, no major problem is being faced in acquisition of land for DFC Project.
(d): The provision of Railway Amendment Act 2008 and National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Plan 2007 are being implemented for land acquisition and disbursement of compensation. For better coordination of land acquisition activities, State level coordination committees with respective State Governments have been formed to avoid delay in land acquisition and other related issues.