Tamil Nadu acquired only 26% of required land; nil for 4 key projects: Railway Minister

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government is yet to acquire any land for four major railway projects in the State, said Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The minister said this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on December 21.

According to the details that the Union Railway Minister submitted to the House, the list of projects that are delayed due to delay in land acquisition includes the 71-km long Tindivanam –Tiruvannamalai new line, 88-km long Attiputtu – Puttur new line, 36-km long Morappur - Dharmapuri, 41-km long Mannargudi - Pattukottai, and 52-km long Thanjavur - Pattukottai.

Of these, the Tamil Nadu government acquired 33 hectares out of the required 273 hectares, while no land has been acquired for the remaining four projects.

"The completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, deposition of cost share by State government in cost sharing projects, priority of projects, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project(s) site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climate conditions, etc.," the Railway Minister said.

Noting that completion of railway projects was dependent on land acquisition by the State government, Vaishnaw said, “Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in Tamil Nadu are held up due to delay in land acquisition.”

According to him, there are 22 ongoing projects in the State, which runs to a total of 2,587 km. For these projects, 3,389 hectares of land is required. However, only 866 hectares – or 26 per cent – has been acquired so far, while the acquisition of the remaining 74 per cent land, 2,523 hectares, is pending, the minister said.