Patna: Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav will meet railway minister Piyush Goyal on August 12 during the latter's visit to Patna in which a memorandum of understanding will be signed between the state government and the railway ministry over the R-Block-Digha railway line stretch.

After signing the MoU, the possession of the land will be officially declared to Bihar. Nand Kishore said the department has already started their parallel work for early completion of the proposed four-lane road.

"On August 12, I will meet Piyush Goyal and that day itself, the MoU would be signed between the state government and the railways. After the MoU, the railway land would legally belong to the state government. That day, he will officially hand over the land and the road construction department will take over the plot," Nand Kishore said.

The department has handed over Rs 222 crore to the railways, the cost of the rail line of 8km spread over 71 acres.

Nand Kishore said he has already formed a seven-member committee for the R-Block-Digha road project under Patna divisional commissioner Anand Kishor. The committee is responsible for coordinating with different departments and monitoring the entire project.

The panel includes Kishor, the Patna district magistrate, the senior superintendent of police, the managing director of Bihar State Road Development Corporation (BSRDC), the municipal commissioner, the chief general manager of the BSRDC, and the managing director of Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd.

On August 3, the first meeting of the committee was convened by Kishor in which instructions were issued officially to remove the encroachment.

On developments after the railways hands over the land, Nand Kishore said: "After the land is handed over to the state government, the railways will remove the track and I have issued an order to hire a consultancy for preparing the detailed project report (DPR). Once the DPR is prepared, a tender would be floated for the executing agency."

Nand Kishore said efforts are on to start the construction of the four-lane road in the current financial year. "Apart from taking the land from the railways, we are already doing the parallel work to complete the project in a stipulated timeframe. Once the work starts, it would be completed in two-and-a-half years," Nand Kishore said.

On June 14, 2018, the ministry of railways had accorded in-principle approval for relinquishment of land of the Patna-Digha rail line for construction of infrastructure for transport purpose by the Bihar government on payment of Rs 221 crore - the value of land was worked out by a revaluation committee constituted as per directive of the high court.