The new broad gauge rail link between Roorkee and Deoband, which would shorten the distance between New Delhi and Uttarakhand considerably, has hit a roadblock owing to tedious land acquisition process in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Northern Railway, in a letter to Uttarakhand Infrastructure Development Commissioner Ajay Kumar Joshi, has said the case files related to the project have been sent to the Board of Revenue in UP. Joshi is holding periodical review meetings in this regard. “We are monitoring this ambitious project. It appears that the case files are stuck in Lucknow. We hope they will get clearance shortly,” he said.
The new line between Deoband and Roorkee was sanctioned in the Union Budget 2007-08. It is 28.48 km long with 11.35 km falling under Uttarakhand and 17.13 km in UP. On the request of the Uttarakhand government, the railways took up the project and began the land acquisition process.
The status of land acquisition is at different stages in both the states. In UP, the case files with respect to 11 villages have been sent to the Board of Revenue in Lucknow while they are still being prepared for land in two gram panchayat villages.
Northern railway has already deposited Rs 14.78 crore with the Uttarakhand government and Rs 17.60 crore with the UP government towards land acquisition. This project is being executed on cost sharing basis with 50 per cent of the cost being shared by the Uttarakhand government.
Initially, the railway line was to come straight from Muzaffarnagar to Roorkee but following the request of Muslim leaders, Deoband was also added to the line.
