Title - 33 km stretch of Katra-Dharam Section transferred to IRCON Poor performance forces Rly Board to snat

JAMMU, Jan 11: Taking seriously the poor performance of Konkan Railways Corporation Limited (KRCL) on Katra-Dharam Section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) project, the Railway Board on the directions of Ministry of Railways has transferred vital portion of the section to the IRCON India International Limited, which is going to start the work on war footing soon after signing of tripartite agreement.

Official sources told EXCELSIOR that acting on the advise of the Ministry of Railways, the Railway Board has issued orders for transfer of 33 kilometers portion of Katra-Dharam Section from KRCL to IRCON India International Ltd, which has the credit of completing Qazigund-Baramulla section and 11 kilometer long tunnel between Qazigund and Banihal. This tunnel is considered as engineering marvel not only in the country but also across Asia.

"The Railways Ministry took the decision to snatch vital portion of Katra-Dharam Section from KRCL keeping in view its poor performance, which has also been pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in the Performance Analysis of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Line (USBRL) project", sources said.

Being the trickiest section in the entire USBRL Project, Katra-Dharam Section involved a length of 71 kilometers of track, 31 tunnels and 51 bridges, which after change in the alignment has now been revised to 17 tunnels covering 60.45 kilometers and 20 major bridges, sources said, adding "out of 15 major contracts pertaining to Katra-Dharam Section awarded by the KRCL to different contractors not even one has so far been completed. The delay in execution of these works ranged between 41 months and 101 months. Moreover, nine contracts were foreclosed".

"Keeping in view its remarkable performance, the Railway Board has handed over stretch between 33.09 kilometer to 39 kilometer (Anji bridge near Katra onwards) and stretch between 61 kilometer and 91 kilometer (from Sangaldan towards Chenab bridge)", adding "the IRCON India International Ltd would be able to start work on these stretches only after signing of tripartite agreement between IRCON, KRCL and concerned construction division of Railways".

It would be only after signing of tripartite agreement that KRCL would hand over all the details pertaining to these two stretches to IRCON, which will have to even construct access roads to reach the alignment, sources further said, adding "practically nothing significant has been done on the stretches snatched from KRCL and handed over to IRCON".

In response to a question about special bridge on Anji Khad, which is the second most crucial bridge after Chenab and whose fate is hanging in balance, sources said, "this bridge is also the victim of lack of coordination between KRCL and the contractor, which led to suspension of work on account of uncertainty of stabilization of foundation that too after incurring an expenditure of Rs 37 crore", adding "the KRCL as well as contractor were aware of the presence of sheer zone in the foundation region but KRCL raised the issue with the contractor only in August 2007---three years after award of contract to the contractor".