Baddi link left in the cold

RAILWAY BUDGET 2007-08

The railway budget of 2007-08 may have pleased many but not industry in Himachal Pradesh.

This is despite the fact that it had made various representations for the connectivity of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt to Chandigarh and Ropar.

"As road connectivity is poor and the upgrade of road infrastructure requires a consensus of three states, the issue had been hanging fire. So we approached the railway ministry to sanction connectivity through the rail mode," said Deepak Bhandari, senior vice-president, Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association.

He added that a railway loop had been proposed through Chandigarh-Pinjore-Baddi-Nalagrah-Nangal-Ghanauli (Ropar), which would be about 90 km.

This would help 30,000 workers from Baddi and 20,000 commuters from Ropar who shuttle between Chandigarh and factories in the industrial belts of Baddi and Ropar but the rail budget dashed all these hopes.

According to experts, the composite cost of laying railway track per kilometre is about Rs 8 crore, which was a viable investment.

Poor connectivity to Himachal has already undermined many big proposals.

AR Singh, president of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association, said the rail connectivity between Nalagarh and Gahnauli (Ropar) had been there once but now lay defunct.

"The Government of India simply announced the industrial package but did not adopt a holistic approach for the sustainable development of this region," he added.