Ranchi: Chief Minister Hemant Soren today said the state government will assist the Union railway ministry in every manner possible to ensure timely completion of pending railway projects in the state. He said the state authorities concerned had been directed to release funds towards the state�s contribution to the railway projects underway in Jharkhand.
Soren, speaking at a high level meeting on reviewing the current status and progress of various pending rail projects in Jharkhand with state bureaucrats and railway representatives at the state Secretariat, said, �The state gives largest contribution of revenue to the railways. The railway ministry should provide passenger amenities in the same proportion. The state government will make sure that the pending projects including projects of laying railway tracks are not delayed in want of funds.�
Discussing the rail facilities available to the passengers of Jharkhand, Soren said there was need for increasing the number of bogies in trains in Jharkhand including Santhal Paragana. He said the delay in implementation of projects caused the total cost to go up which in turn adversely affects the natural resources of the state. He said the pending rail projects should be completed within the set deadline on priority basis.
The CM said the Chief Secretary should hold meeting with railway authorities at his level to find solution to the various roadblocks such as issues related to land acquisition and law and order problems. He said formalities related to the renewal of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the state government with the railways should be finalized and completed soon.
Soren further said that there was need to enhance passenger facilities in Ranchi-Dumka Inter City train.
Also present on the occasion, Madhuresh Kumar, general manager of East Central Railway told the CM there were six rail projects underway in the state in collaboration with the state government. He said rail lines up to 550 kilometre are to be laid under these projects.
The GM further said that train operation had started on 250 kilometre stretch of rail lines. He said new rail lines up to 130 kilometre were expected to be laid by November this year. He said work on laying rail tracks up to 400 kilometre was expected to be completed by March 2015.
The meeting was also attended by the state transport minister Champai Soren, Chief Secretary of Jharkhand Sajal Chakravarty, development commissioner Sudhir Prasad and many other senior bureaucrats of the state.