Suburban rail DPR has been sent to Railway Ministry: Govt

The State government on Wednesday clarified that it had furnished the Detailed Project Report (DPR) on the Bengaluru Suburban Rail project to the Railway Board and had been pursuing the matter with the Ministry on multiple fronts.

This was an apparent counter to the Railway Ministry’s response to an RTI query that the government was yet to furnish the project details.

In a press statement, the government said it had been “making sustained efforts to obtain the concurrence of the Ministry of Railways for the implementation of the Bengaluru Suburban Rail linking Bengaluru to other cities / towns in its hinterland. The Government of Karnataka has on its own initiated the commissioning of the DPR for the implementation of Phase-IA of the project,” it said.

On August 14, 2015, the Minister of State for Railways had written to the chief minister seeking the DPR. “The draft DPR, which has been prepared by M/s RITES, has been shared with the Adviser / Infrastructure, Railway Board, the Ministry of Railways, on April 28, 2015. A copy of the DPR has also been shared with the General Manager, South Western Railway, Hubli on April 28, 2015.”

The government, according to the statement, had received comments from the Chief Engineer, Construction / Planning, Cantonment, SWR, Bengaluru, of M/s RITES. This was again shared with the General Manager, South Western Railway, Hubballi, as well as the Chief Engineer, Construction/Planning, SWR, Bengaluru, on January 27, 2016.

The Chief Minister, in another letter to the Union Minister, had specifically stated that the finer nuances concerning the challenges during the execution, etc, could be looked at an appropriate stage by the State government and the Indian Railways. He had then requested that the proposal be approved.

“A memorandum has also been given to the Minister of Railways during his visit to Bengaluru on February 4, 2016, requesting the Government of India to provide its concurrence to the project at the earliest,” the statement read.