Chief Secretary, B B Vyas Friday chaired the Apex Committee meeting, to review the progress of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project and clear the bottlenecks impeding expeditious completion of the prestigious project particularly in the Katra-Banihal section.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), USBRL Project, Commissioner/Secretary, Forests, Ecology & Environment, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir and other senior officers of the State Government and Railway authorities were present in the meeting. Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Deputy Commissioners, Reasi and Ramban participated via video conferencing.

The 326 Km Rail Link is planned to provide an alternate transportation to the State. Of this, the 54 km Jammu-Udhampur section was commissioned in 2005 and the remaining 272 km portion between Udhampur and Baramulla was declared as National Project. Till date, 118 Km section of Qazigund- Baramulla, the 18 Km Qazigund-Banihal and the 25 Km section of Udhampur- Katra have been completed.

The Committee was informed that the seven cases which involved clearance of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) have been cleared by the said Committee in its meetings held on 09.06.2017 and 30.06.2017.

During the meeting, timelines were drawn to address various issues related to land acquisition in the Katra-Banihal section and construction of 132 KV Transmission Line from Katra to Reasi and Ramban to Sangaldan for the Railway’s Integrated Sub-Station. A number of land issues were also resolved during the meeting.

Guest