Land acquisition delay stalls railway line

PC Mohan, Member of Parliament, Bangalore Central, on Friday said the completion of the Bangalore Cantonment-Whitefield railway line project, which has been stalled for some years now, depends on the acquisition of land and other factors.

The undue delay by the state government to acquire and hand over the land for the project was raised by the railway ministry on Friday.

Mohan said the execution of the project has also been stalled due to the shifting of various utility services. As a result of this, a fixed time cannot be set for the completion of the project, he said.

1997-98 budget

He said the project was included in the 1997-98 budget, subject to requisite clearances. “The work on the 3rd and 4th line between Bangalore Cantonment-Whitefield was sanctioned in March 2018 at a cost of Rs 492.87 crore. An expenditure of Rs 0.07 crore has been incurred up to March 2018 and an outlay of Rs 6 crore has been provided during the current year 2018-19,” Mohan said.

He said the land acquisition documents for 1,320 sqm were submitted to the authorities in the state government in August 2018. So far, no land has been handed over to the railways by the state government, he said.