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| Spotlights on 'national project' of J&K | | Udhampur-Baramulla rail line faces threat | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, AUG. 24: Minister for Railways, Lalu Prasad Yadav, has had quiet discussions with the Minister for Home Affairs, Shivraj Patil, on the safety of the 'national project' of Jammu and Kashmir. The project is the rail line between Udhampur in Jammu region and Baramulla in Kashmir Valley. And the threat to it persists inview of the existence in the troubled State of 'merchants of terror'.
Lalu Yadav's consultations with Shivraj Patil are, obviously, the outcome of the recomendatiuons from Parliament's standing committee on Railways. In fact, the parliamentary panel hasx highlighted the need for "adquate security cover" to ensure trouble-free construction of the rail line between Udhampur and vulnerable Baramulla. The panel has, signifcantly, made a pointed reference to the threat perception along the Katra-Qazigund section and called for adequate security measures to enable the concerned agencies to complete the project. The panel's 19-page report has voiced dissatisfaction at the "slow" speed of the present Government in Jammu and Kashmir on the land acquisition process, particularly in Qazigund-Baramulla section in the Valley.
All this despite the deposit of Rs 377 crores by the Railways with the J&K Government for disbursement of compensation. Apart from laying greater emphasis on the need for adequate security cover, the panel has let it be known that successful implementation of the Qazigund-Baramulla rail line will depend upon timely acquisition of land by the State Government. There is no denying that the construction work on Katra-Qazigund section would depend upon security cover between Chenab and Baramulla section. Further delay in acquiring the projected land for Katra-Qazigund rail line is bound to result in two developments--first, delay in the construction work and, second, further escalation in cost of the project.
The parliamentary panel, while identifying gray areas such as availability of proper security to the manpower executing the project, allocation of adequate funds as per requirement, of manpower and acquisition of land from the State Government, has expressed apprehension about further cost escalation and timely completion of the 'national project'. Hence, the panel's recommendation: A project management authority be constitued under the administrative control of Prime Minister's Office (PMO), involving the representatives from the PMO, Ministry of Railways, J&K Government and the project executing agencies, to cordinate and oversee the progres of the work in "a holistic and synchronic" manner.
The 'national project' for J&K, in fact, was sanctioned in 1994-95 at a cost of Rs 1500 crores. In 1995-96, the scope of the project was modified and extended up to Baramulla at a cost of Rs 1900 crores. Thus the original cost of the entire project was estimated to be Rs 3400 crores in 1995-96.
Parliament's standing committee has been officially in formed that the cost of the project has escalated to Rs 5400 crores. And anticipated cost escalation has been worked out to five per cent per annum. The problem in Kashmir is one of distance. This distance is not so much physical as political and psychological.
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