Date:20/06/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/06/20/stories/2003062004081300.htm

Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu-Udhampur railway line will be ready by 2004: Nitish

By Luv Puri

Katra June 19. The Railways Minister, Nitish Kumar, today laid the foundation stone of the first tunnel near Katra for the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway line. The length of the tunnel would be 2,685 metres. With this, the project now enters the militants-infested hilly terrain of Udhampur.

Mr. Kumar told mediapersons that the Jammu-Udhampur line, announced in 1983, would be ready by 2004, the Udhampur-Katra line would be completed by 2005 and the railway line from Qazigund to Baramulla would also be completed by the same period.

The Jammu-Udhampur-Qazigund-Baramulla railway line would be completed by August, 2007 and Rs. 1,300 crores had been spent for this project so far. Rs. 500 crores had been provided in this year's budget for the railway line.

Later, Mr. Kumar met the local people and enquired about the problems they faced because of the construction of this line. They said that so far they had not been given any compensation for the land taken over by railway authorities. The Minister assured them that they would be given compensation after the completion of formalities by the district administration. They demanded that employment be given to the educated youth of the area. Mr. Kumar said that preference would be given to graduate engineers.

Before leaving for New Delhi, Mr. Kumar went to Udhampur for inspection of Jammu-Udhampur railway line.

Shujaat Bukhari reports from Srinagar:

Mr. Kumar, while inspecting the construction of the Srinagar Railway station at Nowgam, said here today that it would be completed by March 2004. A double track from Jalandhar to Jammu had been sanctioned at a cost of Rs. 450 crores. Work would be taken up in a fortnight and the long-awaited railway track was likely to be completed by 2007. Mr. Kumar said that with the completion of the track the infrastructural constraints for introducing more trains to the State would be overcome.

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, accompanied Mr. Kumar during the inspection.

Mr. Kumar said the Srinagar station, being built at a cost of Rs. 6 crores, would have four platforms and was being developed so that it would become a source of attraction for tourists. It would have beautiful landscaping, vast green patches and a restaurant on the top floor overlooking the entire area. He said 85 per cent of the work on the station was over. The Srinagar station would have coach maintenance facilities also.