New Delhi, Dec. 25: The Centre has passed on the onus of pending railway projects in Jharkhand to the state government, blaming the poor law and order situation and insufficient funds for the repeated deadline misses.

Union railway minister for state Manoj Sinha, responding to a query from Palamau MP and former DGP Vishnu Dayal Ram in the Lok Sabha this week, said the Naxalite threat and Jharkhand government’s inability to release funds were delaying at least seven rail link projects, six of which were mooted 12 years ago.

He also blamed the delay in land acquisition, forest clearances and local demands for additional works such as road overbridges and underpasses for further dragging the projects beyond deadlines.

The proposals for seven railway tracks — Deoghar-Dumka, Koderma-Ranchi, Koderma-Giridih, Koderma-Tilaiya, Rampurhat-Mandarhill via Dumka, Ranchi-Lohardaga-Tori and Hansdiha-Godda — were first made in 2002 when Babulal Marandi, then with the BJP, was the chief minister. A couple of years ago, the Dumka-Hansdiha rail line was added to the list.

When work started, the total cost was pegged at Rs 1,997 crore with the state’s share being 67 per cent. Later, the Centre and state shares were revised to 50 per cent each.

But only the Deoghar-Dumka rail link has been completed and is operational now. The Ranchi-Lohardaga-Tori project is partially complete with tracks laid between the state capital and Lohardaga.

Despite extensions, the inordinate delay caused the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to finally expire in March last year. Consequently, the Jharkhand government and the railway ministry jointly formed a special committee that framed a report. A revised MoU was also signed, proposing completion of ongoing projects by March 2017 with a consolidated anticipated cost of Rs 5,775 crore.

“So far, the state has given over Rs 2,219 crore to the Railway Board for construction of about 665km of railway lines and needs to give around Rs 1,000 crore more, which was one of the main grouses of outgoing chief minister Hemant Soren. Also, only 365km of tracks could be laid till now,” said a senior state government official familiar with the projects, adding that the new estimate was an additional burden on the state.

Railway officials also pointed out that the law and order in the state, especially the Naxalite issue, was another major hurdle.

“Naxalites torched construction equipment and scared away labourers, scuttling the schedules of Ranchi-Lohardaga-Tori and Koderma-Hazaribagh-Ranchi lines. Land acquisition along Koderma-Ranchi line is another issue. Pending forest clearances have come in the way of the Hazaribagh link,” said a senior official in the railway ministry.

Stuck seven

Pending projects

Koderma-Ranchi
Koderma-Giridih
Koderma-Tilaiya
Rampurhat-Mandarhill
Ranchi-Lohardaga-Tori
Hansdiha-Godda
Dumka-Hansdiha

Revised cost:
Rs 5,775 crore

Centre-state share:
50:50

State has paid:
Rs 2,219 crore