MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4600 BY SHRI KOMATI REDDY VENKAT REDDY AND SHRI MANNE SRINIVAS REDDY TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 30.03.2022 REGARDING NEW RAILWAY LINES IN TELANGANA
(a) to (c) Railway projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway wise and not State wise or parliamentary constituencies wise.
Railways has taken up work on Munirabad-Mahaboobnagar, Bhadrachalam-Satupalli and Manoharabad-Kothapalli New Lines. However, work on Kadapa-Bangalore new line is held up as State Government of Andhra Pradesh is not depositing their cost share for the project.
Electrification works are under different stages of execution for Nandyala-Yerraguntla and Dharmavaram-Pakala sections and planned for completion in phased manner expeditiously.
No Railway Electrification projects are pending in the South Central Railway, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh :-
As on 01.04.2021, 33 Projects (16 New Line and 17 Doubling) costing ?63,731 crore covering a total length of 5,706 km are falling fully/partly in the State of Andhra Pradesh. These include:
16 New Line Projects are covering a length of 1917 km, at a cost of ?22,670 crore, out of which, commissioning of 130 Km length has been achieved and an expenditure of ?3,955 crore has been incurred upto March 2021,
17 Doubling projects of total length 3789 km costing ?41,061 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Andhra Pradesh are under different stages of planning/approval/execution, out of which 402 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ?10,937 crore has been incurred upto March 2021. There is no Gauge Conversion Project falling fully/partly in the State of Andhra Pradesh.
Since 2014 there has been considerable increase in fund allocation and commensurate commissioning of infrastructure projects and safety works across Indian Railways including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Average annual budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Andhra Pradesh, during 2014-19 has increased to ?2830 crore per year from ?886 crore per year during 2009-14 which is 219% more than average annual budget allocation of 2009-14. Budget outlay for these projects has been increased to ?3885 crore in financial year 2019-20 (338% more than average annual budget outlay during 2009-14) and ?4910 crore in financial year 2020-21 (454% more than average annual budget outlay during 2009-14). For Financial Year 2021-22, highest ever budget outlay of ?6223 crore has been provided for these works which is (602% more than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14).
During 2014-21, 731 Km sections (319 km New line and 412 km Doubling) falling fully/partly in the State of Andhra Pradesh have been commissioned at an average rate of 104.43 km per year, which is 44% more than average annual commissioning during 2009-14( 72.6 Km/Yr).
Telangana :-
As on 01.04.2021, 16 projects (09 New Lines and 07 Doubling) costing ?31,281 crore for 2,495 km length falling fully / partly in the State of Telangana are under different stages of planning/ approval/ execution. These include:
09 New Line projects covering total length of 1,071 km at a cost of ?17,013 crore, out of which 155 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ?3,338 crore has been incurred upto March, 2021.
07 Doubling Projects covering total length of 1,424 km at a cost of ?14,268 crore out of which 53 km has been commissioned and an expenditure of ?3,081 crore has been incurred upto March, 2021.
Average Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects & safety works, falling fully/ partly in State of Telangana, during 2014-19 was ?1110 crore per year. Total allocation of Budget for these projects in 2019-20 has been ?2,056 crore, which has been increased to ?2,602 crore in financial year 2020-21. The highest ever budget allocation of ?2,486 crore has been provided for these projects for financial year 2021-22.
During 2014-21, 321 Km sections (177 km New line and 144 km Doubling) falling fully/partly in the State of Telangana have been commissioned at an average rate 45.86 km per year, which is 164% more than average commissioning during 2009-14( 17.4 Km/Yr.).
Railway Projects in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are covered by South Central Railway, South Western Railway and East Coast Railway Zones of Indian Railway. Project wise details including expenditure and Budget outlay are made available in public domain on Indian Railways website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in>Ministry of Railways >Railway Board >About Indian Railways >Railway Board Directorates >Finance (Budget) >Regular Budget/Pink Book(year)>Railway wise Works Machinery & Rolling Stock Programme.
105 ROBs/RUBs are under construction/pending in Telangana and 279 ROBs/RUBs are under construction/pending in Andhra Pradesh. 355 Nos. of ROBs/RUBs have been constructed in Telangana and 617 Nos. of ROBs/RUBs have been constructed in Andhra Pradesh from 2014 upto till date. These ROBs/RUBs are in various stages of planning, design and development in consultation with State Govt.
The completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, deposition of cost share amount by State Government in cost sharing projects, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project/s site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. and all these factors affect the completion time of the project/s. As such confirmed time line for completion of project/s cannot be ascertained at this stage. Nevertheless, every effort is being made to execute the projects expeditiously.
Various steps taken by Railways to expedite the progress are as under-
(i) Standardization of drawings for various spans to avoid delay.
(ii) Joint survey with concerned State Govt. officials before finalizing the GAD.
(iii) Regular coordination meeting with state Govt. officials to sort out various issues arising during construction.
(iv) Well structured mechanism to monitor and review progress of ROB works at different levels from field units, zonal railways, Ministry of Railways etc. Also the status, constraints and timelines for completion of projects are monitored right up to highest level for early solution of problem.
(v) prioritisation of projects.
(vi) substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects.
(vii) delegation of powers at field level.
(viii) close monitoring of progress of project at various levels, and
(ix) regular follow up with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects.
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