The Railways find themselves forced to settle for merely “optimally developing” the Capital’s New Delhi railway station, unable to get the necessary clearance from the authorities concerned for converting it into a “world class station”.
Local civic agencies like the New Delhi Municipal Council , the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Delhi Development Authority and the Delhi Traffic Police have opposed the Railways’ proposed Rs.9,000-crore mega-project on the ground that it would worsen the current problems of congestion, parking and sewage, located as the station is in the vicinity of the busy Connaught Place area.
Not receiving the mandatory approvals, the Railways find the way ahead blocked, so much so that they had to give up their idea of extending the deadline for considering the statutory requisition for qualification after two extensions that expired last October.
The bidders for the project, mostly renowned entities from across the globe, considered it pragmatic to make a silent exit withdrawing the security money deposited with the Railways. With the project not getting approved, the Railways couldn’t proceed further to the next stage of bidding.
The proposed project, now dead for all practical purposes, envisaged state-of-the-art facilities for the station stretching the infrastructure on an additional 86 acres of land.
The Railways’ Expert Committee on Infrastructure has now decided to “optimally develop” the available infrastructure of the New Delhi station recommending that the mega-project be abandoned.
