Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam chaired the ApexCommittee meeting to review the progress of the Udhampur-Srinagar-BaramullaRail 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 Bramulla, 111 Km stretch between Katraand Banihal remains to be connected. Thestretch has tunnels in 97 Km length and surface Rail line on 14 Kms. He said 67Km long escape tunnels are also being provided alongside the main tunnels.
Regarding progress of work on the 111Km Katra-Banihal stretch,CAO, USBRL Project informed that 67 Km construction work of the main Tunnelshas been completed along with 30 Km of the escape tunnels. He said work on theproject is going on smoothly. However, certain issues requiring intervention ofthe 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 about bottlenecks/stoppages,if any, encountered during the previous week to his office, PrincipalSecretary, Home, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, IGP Jammu and concernedDCs/SSPs. He asked the Railway Authorities to first seek resolution of theissues with the concerned DCs and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu beforereferring 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.