The Railways has requested the Tamil Nadu Government to expedite land acquisition for the proposed rail line from Karaikal to Peralam, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament on Wednesday.
Replying to an unstarred question raised by MP V. Vaithilingam, Mr. Vaishnaw stated that Karaikal was already connected with the Railway network, including with Peralam via Nagappattinam, Tiruvarur.
To provide additional direct connectivity from Karaikal to Peralam, a 23-km new line work was sanctioned as material modification to Tiurchchirapalli - Thanjavur - Nagore - Karaikal gauge conversion project at a cost of ₹177.69 crore in January 2019.
Land acquisition proposals for 3.20 ha of land have been submitted to the State Government of Tamil Nadu in September 2019.
“The Government of Tamil Nadu has been requested to expedite land acquisition. However, work has been taken up on available land,” the Railway Minister said.
Mr. Vaithilingam had sought details on the current status of the rail link from Karaikal to Peralam linking the Southern part of the State and the time by which the work on the said railway line is likely to be completed.
On the second part of the question, the Minister responded that a fixed completion time of the project could not be ascertained at this stage. This was because the completion of a Railway project hinged on various factors such as expeditious land acquisition by State Government, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of the area, and number of working months in a year for a particular project site.
“All these factors affect the completion time of the project. As such, confirm completion time of the project cannot be ascertained at this stage,” the Minister stated.
