Rohtak-Hansi rail line becomes hot issue between 2 MPs

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, February 20

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Rohtak-Meham-Hansi rail line has become a hot issue between Rohtak MP Arvind Sharma and Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it virtually from Rewari on February 16.

Sharma has claimed that the Ministry of Railways has accepted his demand for the stoppage of passenger trains on the line at Bahu Akbarpur, Bahalba and Kharkara villages in the district, while Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda travelled by a train to reach Rohtak from Hansi town (Hisar) on Tuesday stating that he travelled by the train today as he was deeply attached to the project he had initiated.

“On Monday, I received several phone calls from residents of three villages, who raised the issue about the trains not stopping at their villages and requested me to get it done. To ensure that the residents of the three villages benefited from this rail line, I met the Rail Minister and urged him to accept the demand of the train halting at the villages,” said Sharma.

“In the evening, I got a notification about the approval of the stoppage of trains at Bahu Akbarpur, Bahalba and Kharkara. The train will start halting at these villages soon on the completion of technical formalities,” he added.

Sharma claimed that he had vowed to fulfil his promises, including the expansion of Metro upto Rohtak.

Meanwhile, Deepender Hooda while interacting with the media at the Rohtak railway station claimed that he had toiled hard from the approval of the project till the laying of foundation stone and then till its completion.

“The project was approved during the regime of the then UPA government at the Centre in November 2011. Thereafter, the then Hooda government in the state gave approval to bear the entire cost of the land. The then UPA government allocated a budget of Rs 385 crore in the Railway Budget of 2012-13. Then, former Union Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and then CM Bhupinder Hooda laid the foundation stone of the project on July 28, 2013,” Deepender claimed. He said the formerHooda government had initiated proceedings to acquire land for the project by issuing notifications under Section 4 and 6 of Land Acquisition Act in 2013 and 2014.

“Thereafter, the government changed in the state. In December 2015, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar shocked everyone by stating that the project’s file was missing but I immediately provided the file to the CM and later also staged a dharna in Hansi and Meham to get the work of the project started,” Deepender added.

Earlier, the MP was welcomed by his supporters at various railway stations en route to Rohtak from Hansi.