Chennai: After the Union Budget 2024 was presented, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told reporters about the financial details allocated to railways in the budget. At that time, 6,362 crore rupees have been allotted to Tamil Nadu for railways. There is no delay in central government allocation of funds. He accused the Tamil Nadu (DMK) government of delaying land acquisition.
In response to this, Tamil Nadu Disaster Management Minister KKSSR Ramachandran has given his explanation through a report. In it, he mentioned that there is no delay in the land acquisition works for the railway projects being implemented in Tamil Nadu.
The report also said that the land acquisition works are being actively carried out with emphasis on the railway projects announced by the central government in May 2021. So far permission has been granted by the Tamil Nadu government and a total of 2,443 hectares of land has been acquired across Tamil Nadu.
A total of 1226 hectares of land has already been acquired, including 937 hectares of land for new broad gauge project via Thoothukudi – Madurai (route: Aruppukkottai), 276 hectares of land for new broad gauge project of Tiruvannamalai – Tindivanam and 13 hectares of land for construction of Erode cargo terminal. But since the central government has not given permission for this after 2 years, the work has come to a standstill.
Apart from this, 74 percent of the 1,216 hectares of land i.e. 907.33 hectares of land has been acquired and handed over to the railway administration. Thus, orders are being issued from time to time without any hindrance to implement the railway projects.
While the Tamil Nadu government had first approved the construction of a new railway track between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi in 2022, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu wrote to Prime Minister Modi to stop the project considering the environmental impact of the construction of the railway track as per the report of the Environment Committee. The project was recommended to be abandoned due to environmental impact.
In addition to this, Tamil Nadu Railways has been conducting review meetings on railway works from time to time under the leadership of the Chief Secretary with the District Collectors. The Tamil Nadu Disaster Management Minister has said that the Tamil Nadu government is paying special attention to the railway projects and is working to complete them within the due time.
No delay in land acquisition for railway projects being implemented in Tamil Nadu – Reply of Hon’ble Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management#CMMKSTALIN | #TNDIPR |@CMOTamilnadu @mkstalin@AshwiniVaishnaw @KKSSRR_DMK pic.twitter.com/ZEAXbeSjqo
— TN DIPR (@TNDIPRNEWS) July 25, 2024
