The Railways Tuesday brought finance minister Yashwant Sinha's constituency, Hazaribagh, on the rail map by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jharkhand government for laying and converting six rail projects in the state. The projects including laying a broad gauge line to connect Hazaribagh with Ranchi and Koderma. Railway board chairman R N Malhotra signed the MoU with the chief secretary of Jharkhand.
Under the MoU, six railway projects will be constructed in the state over the next five years at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore. The state will finance two-thirds of the project cost, while the rest will be borne by the Railways.
Apart from the Ranchi-Hazaribagh-Koderma line, the Ranchi-Lohardagga gauge conversion and the Koderma-Giridih new lineprojects will also be taken up.
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Railway minister Nitish Kumar said the MoUs signed by the Railways with other states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal pertained to specific projects, while this one would encompass all projects in Jharkhand over the next five years. He said his ministry had already made a provision for the same in the budget and asked the states to come forward with more support.
With projects worth Rs 38,000 crore still pending with the Railways, budget-making had become a tough exercise, Kumar said, adding the states should fund these sort of initiatives to ensure that projects got completed.