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Fund crunch may hit NF Rly projects

By Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI, April 27 � While the project cost of the NF Railway runs into crores of rupees, the Railway Ministry has to do with meagre allocations, resulting in likely delay of crucial ventures.

An outlay of Rs 445 crore has been provided for doubling project connecting New Jalpaiguri-Murkongselek. However, the allocation may not be enough to cover the project cost, as Railways estimated that the cost of doubling of at least four projects is around Rs 1,547 crore, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said in a Lok Sabha reply.

The minister however said that in addition, other doubling projects on this section have been included in the Budget. The projects include the 142-km New Bongaigaon-Kamakhya via Rangiya estimated to cost Rs 1,889 crore, 176-km Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati estimated to cost Rs 1,831 crore and 102-km Digaru-Hojai estimated to cost Rs 945 crore.

An outlay of Rs 64 crore has been provided in the Budget (2015-2016) for these projects.

Work on electrification of the New Jalpaiguri-New Bongaigaon-Rangiya-Guwahati section is a part of the Barauni-Katihar-Guwahati electrification project and the work is entrusted to Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited for execution.

During 2015-2016, an outlay of Rs 107 crore has been allocated for the project. Depending upon the overall availability of resources, the targets for commissioning of railway electrification project are fixed on a yearly basis, he said.

Currently, there is no proposal to electrify the Guwahati-Lumding-Dimapur-New Tinsukia-Dibrugarh and Rangiya-Rangapara-North Harmuti-Morkongselek rail lines, the minister replied.

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