Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam chaired the Apex Committee meeting to review the progress of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project.
Principal Secretary, Home, Financial Commissioner Revenue,J&K, Principal Secretary, Planning Development & Monitoring Department,Administrative Secretaries of the Departments Forest, Ecology &Environment, PDD, Revenue and Tourism, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), USBRLProject, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Deputy Commissioner Budgam and othersenior officers and representatives of Railway Authorities were present in themeeting.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Deputy Commissioner, Rambanand Deputy Commissioner, Reasi participated in the meeting through videoconferencing.
CAO, USBRL Project informed the Committee that out of thetotal 272 Km Rail line between Udhampur and Baramulla, 111 Km stretch betweenKatra and Banihal remains to be connected. The stretch has tunnels in 97 Km length and surface Rail line on 14 Kms.He said 67 Km long escape tunnels are also being provided alongside the maintunnels.
Regarding progress of work on the 111Km Katra-Banihalstretch, CAO, USBRL Project informed that 67 Km construction work of the mainTunnels has been completed along with 30 Km of the escape tunnels. He said workon the project is going on smoothly. However, certain issues requiringintervention of the State Government are projected for early resolution.
To expedite the resolution of the issues and completion ofthe Project, Chief Secretary directed the Railway Authorities to submit onevery Monday by 11:00 AM, a weekly progress report along with details aboutbottlenecks/stoppages, if any, encountered during the previous week to hisoffice, Principal Secretary, Home, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, IGP Jammuand concerned DCs/SSPs. He asked the Railway Authorities to first seekresolution of the issues with the concerned DCs and Divisional Commissioner,Jammu before referring them to Government.
In order to put in place a coordination mechanism at thedistrict level for the USBRL Project, State Government will constituteCommittees of Deputy Commissioners of Ramban and Reasi with District SPs,concerned Revenue Authorities etc. and representatives of IRCON and KRCL asmembers to review the progress of work every week and discuss resolution ofissues, if any.
Timelines were also fixed by Chief Secretary for time boundresolution and completion of the few pending land acquisition, utility shiftingand compensation issues in Reasi, Ramban and Budgam districts.