Projects in West Bengal, approved years ago, haven’t yet seen the light of the day because of mainly land acquisition issues which can be resolved if the state government cooperates with Railways, said Union Railways minister Piyush Goyal today.
The minister was speaking on the occasion of inauguration of host of railway projects including Road Under Bridge (RUB) near Malda and at Manigram, five foot overbridges at Khagraghat Road, Lalbagh Court Road, Tenya, Dahaparadham and Niyalishpara stations and two Foot Over Bridges at Sujnipara and Basudebpur stations, under Eastern Railway.
Flagging-off goods train on Manigram-Nimtita newly electrified section under Eastern Railway virtually, he said, “West Bengal is lagging behind in terms of development and progress. We took up development projects in Bengal but many are stuck at different levels, largely due to land acquisition problems. We have projects in West Bengal that were approved years ago but still haven’t seen the light of day. This can be resolved if the state government would cooperate with Railways.”
Citing an example he said, a project that was started in 1974 is still stuck because of land issues. “Whatever land we had, has been encroached and the railway line has been implemented in patches. Such projects are a huge loss to the country and to the state of West Bengal,” added Goyal.
“I would appeal to all the elected representatives and the state government to support us to implement our projects in a timely and speedy manner. In the last six years, we have invested Rs19,811 crore in West Bengal the railway infrastructure in the state. Also, Rs710 crore was spent on passenger amenities and during this period electrification of 1040 km of tracks has been done.”