Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has asked the State to expedite land acquisition for railway projects. In a letter addressed to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, he said that the Railways had deposited ₹80.63 crore for acquisition of 608.21 hectares of land for three projects. However, the land identified has yet to be acquired by the State government.
The land is required for the doubling of Hosapete-Hubballi-Londa-Vasco-da-Gama (352 km) line and building new lines from Rayadurga-Tumakuru and Ginigera-Raichur. A total of 1,489.64 hectares of land is required for these projects, of which 881.43 hectares have been acquired.
“Non -acquisition of land is resulting in delay in execution of projects beside blockage of railway’s capital with the State government,” stated the Minister in the letter. He noted that that the failure of the State government to deposit its share of the cost is affecting projects.
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The Railways have taken up 16 projects on a cost-sharing basis in Karnataka, with the State government bearing ₹847.02 crore under the module. The projects include Bidar-Kalaburagi new line, Kadur-Chikkamagaluru new line, Shivamogga- Harihara new line, Hassan-Bengaluru via Shravanabelagola new line, and Whitefield-Kolar new line.
The Railway Minister has asked the Chief Minister to instruct the officials concerned to take measures to hand over the land required and deposit outstanding shares.