Rail project in limbo as state yet to acquire land

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, April 25

In the wake of the failure of the state government to acquire requisite land for the project, uncertainty looms large over the much-needed Ferozepur-Amritsar rail link, which has the potential to shorten the distance between the northern states, including Punjab, to trade capitals of Gujarat and Maharashtra to a large extent.

When constructed, it will also reduce the distance between two border districts of Ferozepur and Amritsar from the present 118 km to 86 km, besides the distance between Amritsar and Mumbai will be cut down by over 200 km.

As per information, Rs 40 crore is required to acquire land falling in Ferozepur and Tarn Taran districts and the rest of the estimated amount of Rs 300 crore needed to lay the track and construct two bridges across the Sutlej and Beas, has to be incurred by the Railways. The deputy commissioners of these two districts had reportedly sent a survey report to the state government to kick-off the process for acquisition of the land. However, the project has been hanging fire due to bureaucratic wrangles. Ramvir, DC, Ferozepur, said they had sent the case to the state government already, adding that the process to acquire land would begin once approval was granted.

Earlier, the rail link between Majha and Malwa was snapped at the time of the Partition when the province of Punjab was divided and some part of Ganda Singh Wala (now in Kasur) fell into the share of Pakistan for which now an alternative broad-gauge link between Ferozepur and Patti needs to be constructed. Though this crucial rail link was given “green signal” in the rail budget during 2013, the matter is still hanging in balance.

Last year, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had written to the Railway Ministry to expedite the process for the construction of this broad-gauge link between Gharyala on the Amritsar-Khemkaran line and Mallanwala on the Ferozepur-Jalandhar line as it will give a major fillip to trade and industry in the border region, however, the state government itself does not seem to be too serious about the matter. The matter had also been taken up by Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Malik, now state BJP chief with the Railways, but nothing tangible has come out yet. On their side, Railway officials said since the internal rate of return was negative for the project, the ministry had asked the state to provide matching grant besides the land for the project. However, the state government was reluctant to foot the bill. “What to provide 50 per cent funds, even the land has not been acquired yet,” said a rail official.

Social worker Shalindera Laroia said, “This rail link is extremely vital to join the two strategically located border districts of Ferozepur and Amritsar, besides connecting them to Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat to boost their economy. It will be a boon for farmers who will be able to send vegetables and fruits to the markets in Mumbai and other areas within 2-3 days,” he added.

Vivek Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur Division, said once the land was provided to them, they would start work on the setting up of the track, for which funds were no constraint.