C.S.II. - 141 RAJYA SABHA COMMITTEE ON PETITIONS HUNDRED AND FORTY FIRST REPORT ON PETITION PRAYING FOR DEVELOPMENT OF RAILWAY NETWORKS IN UTTARAKHAND, HIMACHAL PRADESH AND OTHER HIMALAYAN STATES (Presented on 19th December, 2011) RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI December, 2011 Website:http://parliamentofindia.nic.in E-mail:[email protected] CONTENTS PAGES 1. COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ........................................... (i) 2. INTRODUCTION .................................................................... (iii)-(iv) 3. REPORT ............................................................................. 1-37 4. APPENDICES I Petition praying for development of Railway networks in 39-45 Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other Himalayan States .............. II Views/Comments of the Ministry of Railways dated 46-53 10th May, 2010 on the petition ........................ III Communication dated 12th October, 2011 received from 54-60 Ministry of Railways showing updated status of railway projects mentioned in the petition.............................. IV Views/Comments of the Ministry of Defence dated 6th 61-64 April, 2011 on the petition ........................................ V Views/Comments of the Ministry of Finance dated 4th 65-80 April, 2011 on the petition ........................................ VI Minutes of the meetings of the Committee ................. 81-104 5. ANNEXURE A. List of Twelve ‘National Projects’............................. 107 B. Study report of the Committee visit to Konkan Railway ................................................................. 109-124 C. Name of strategically important railway lines from 125 defence point of view ............................. D. Study report of the Committee visit to Srinagar .......... 127-134 COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (2010-11) 1. Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari –– Chairman MEMBERS 2. Shri Ram Vilas Paswan 3. Shri Nandi Yellaiah *4. Shri Rajeev Shukla 5. Shri Avinash Pande 6. Shri Balavant alias Bal Apte **7. Shri P. Rajeeve 8. Shri Veer Pal Singh Yadav 9. Shri Paul Manoj Pandian 10. Shri Rajaram SECRETARIAT 1. Shri Deepak Goyal, Joint Secretary 2. Shri Rakesh Naithani, Joint Director 3. Shri Ashok K. Sahoo, Deputy Director 4. Shri Goutam Kumar, Assistant Director INTRODUCTION I, the Chairman of the Committee on Petitions, having been authorised by the Committee to submit the Report on its behalf, do hereby present this Hundred and Forty first Report of the Committee on the petition signed by Shri Kedar Singh Fonia, MLA, Uttarakhand and six others, all resident of Uttarakhand praying for development of railway network in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other Himalayan States. 2. The petition was admitted by Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha on 10th November, 2010 under the provisions of Chapter X of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States. In accordance with Rule 145 ibid, the petition was reported to the Council on 15th November, 2010 by Secretary-General after which it stood referred to the Committee on Petitions for examination and report, in terms of Rule 150 ibid. 3. The Committee issued a Press communiqué inviting suggestions from interested individuals/organizations on the subject matter of the petition. In response thereto, more than hundred memoranda were received by the Secretariat. The Secretariat scrutinised those memoranda and a gist thereof has been suitably incorporated in the Report. 4. The Committee heard the petitioner and others on the petition in its sitting held on 29th November, 2010. The Committee heard the Chairman, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Defence Secretary, Finance Secretary and Member Secretary of Planning Commission of India on 22nd December, 2010, 8th April and 4th May, 2011, respectively, on the issues connected with the petition. 4.1 The Committee undertook study visits to Mumbai and Goa from 20th to 25th January, 2011 to interact with MD, Konkan Railway and to see some of the projects in the Konkan Railway Network and to access the possibility of replication of technology used in Konkan Railway in the development of railway projects in Himalayan States. The Committee also visited Srinagar from 24th to 27th April, 2011 to see some of the projects in the State of Jammu & Kashmir and to interact with the MD, IRCON alongwith the representatives of the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) on the petition. 5. The Chairman and Members of the Committee also informally apprised the Prime Minister about the necessity of declaring railway projects in Himalayan States as ‘National Projects’ and completing the same in the time bound manner in the interaction on 10th August, 2011. 6. The Committee once again heard the Chairman, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways on 18th October, 2011. It considered the draft Report in its sitting held on 16th December, 2011 and adopted the same. 7. The Committee while formulating its observations/recommendations, has relied on the written comments of the concerned Ministries, oral evidence of witnesses-official as well as non-official, feedback received in response to the Press Release, observations of the Members of the Committee and interaction with others. 8. For facility of reference and convenience, the observations and recommendations of the Committee have been printed in bold letters in the Report. NEW DELHI; BHAGAT SINGH KOSHYARI 16th December, 2011 Chairman, Agrahayana 25, 1933 (Saka) Committee on Petitions. REPORT A petition dated 18th February, 2010 addressed to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) jointly signed by Shri Kedar Singh Fonia, MLA, Uttarakhand, Shri Chandan Ram Das, MLA, Shri Khajan Das, MLA, Shri Gopal Singh Rawat, MLA, Shri Laxman Singh Patwal, Shri Vijay Bahuguna, MP, Lok Sabha and Shri K.C. Singh Baba, MP, Lok Sabha praying for development of railway networks in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other Himalayan States bordering China was received in the Secretariat (Appendix-I). As per established procedure, the petition was referred to the concerned Ministry i.e. Ministry of Railways for their comments. The comments received from the Ministry were scrutinized by the Secretariat in the light of the issues raised by the petitioners and placed before Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha to enable him to decide the admissibility of the petition. Hon’ble Chairman admitted the petition on 9th November, 2010. The petition was presented to the Rajya Sabha on 15th November, 2010 after which it stood referred to the Committee for examination and report. 1.1 The petitioners in their petition contended that the Himalayan States are the guardians of the country’s northern border and contribute largely to conservation of its environment. They stressed the need to strengthen the security network in the Western Himalayas by laying down railway networks in the bordering States of Himalayan region. Such a rail network would not only benefit the States through which it passes in terms of economy and tourism but would facilitate fast movement of men and material in times of natural calamity and meet defense needs. The petition stresses upon the following issues: Transportation needs in Himalayan States 1.2 The Himalayan States present a dismal picture in terms of transportation networks. This region has the lowest road and railway density in the country. The mode of transport and communication are not developed to the desired level resulting in lack of economic and industrial development of this region. Inadequate road and rail links have left many areas inaccessible and their great potential in forest products, cash crops, hydropower, animal husbandry and tourism remain unexploited. Railways being the principal mode of transport in the country can act as catalyst for socio-economic development of this region. Although difficult terrain, severe climatic conditions and sparse population are often cited as reasons for the apparent lack of interest in constructing roads and railway network, short sighted government policies have also equally contributed to the poor development of infrastructure in the region. Position of Railway network 1.3 The British left behind a railway track lane of 55,596 km, in 62 years since independence the total railway track stands at 63,940 km. This work around to be an addition of 130km in a year which is very pathetic. The situation in Himalayan States is even worse as not even a single kilometre of rail track has been added there since independence. Almost all the network existing in this region is a legacy of the British period. The major initiatives of Indian Railways since independence are the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway line in Jammu and Kashmir and railway line connecting Sevoke in West Bengal to Rangpo in Sikkim, which are to be completed in near future. Development of railroad network by China on Indian border 1.4 China has completed its 3,900-km Beijing-Lhasa rail link and is pushing ahead with seven other railroad projects adjoining the Indian border. China proposes to build 5,000 km. of rail links, with emphasis on establishing connectivity in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. China has also proposed to build a rail network in Nepal. Besides this, China is said to be considering an extension of the Golmu-Lhasa line up to Xigaze, south of Lhasa and from there to Yatung, a trading centre, barely a few kilometres from Nathu La, a mountain pass that connects Tibet with Sikkim. There is a proposal too to extend the line to Nyingchi, an important trading town north of Arunachal Pradesh, at the trijunction with