Rail link to Chandigarh not on track

Even a decade after its commencement,the completion of the Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail link appears to be a distant dream.

Even a decade after its commencement,the completion of the Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail link appears to be a distant dream. Rail authorities attribute the delay to problems in land acquisition for the Morinda section. The farmers,whose land has been earmarked for acquisition,are objecting to the compensation (Rs 18 lakhs per acre) being offered to them. They are demanding the prevalent market rate, said a senior railway official.

But Additional Secretary S S Khara denied any delays stating that the acquisition work was in process. Approximately 260 acres of land have been acquired for the second phase of the project at a cost of around Rs 146.33 crore.

The major hurdle is land acquisition as execution does not take much time. Electrification of the tracks can be done only after the Engineering department completes construction of the bridges, said an official of the construction wing.

The Rs 566-crore Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail project is divided into three phases,of which Phase III (Sahnewal-Ludhiana) was to be completed before March 2009 and Phase II (Morinda-Sahnewal) by 2011.

Construction of three stations,namely Khamano,Samrala and Madpur between Morinda and Sahnewal,will commence after land acquisition.

Only the first phase of the 112-km-long broad gauge line between ChandigarhMorinda,built at a cost of Rs 195 crore,is functional.

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