(a) the status of the progress of work of gauge conversion from Udaipur to Ahmedabad;
(b) the extent of work completed so far of the said project; and
(c) the details of the remaining work yet to be completed and the time by which people are likely to start getting the benefits of this project?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1579 BY SHRI ARJUN LAL MEENA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 10.02.2021 REGARDING GAUGE CONVERSION FROM UDAIPUR TO AHMEDABAD
(a)&(b): Gauge conversion of Udaipur-Ahmedabad is a part of Ahmedabad-Himmatnagar-Udaipur gauge conversion including Modasa-Shamlaji Road new line project (317.73 Km), which was sanctioned in 2008-09. The latest cost of the project is `1960 crore and an expenditure of `1,600 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020. An outlay of ` 265 crore has been provided during 2020-21.
Gauge Conversion of Ahmedabad-Himmatnagar – Dungarpur (182 km) and Kharwachanda - Udaipur (24 km) sections has been completed and work is going on in the remaining section of Kharwachanda – Dungarpur (89.49 Km).
(c): The timely completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest departments, shifting of infringing utilities (both underground and over ground), statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic considerations, etc. and all these factors affect the completion of the project. Therefore, confirmed timeline for completion of the project cannot be given.
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