RailEnquiry

The Government of India would explore new rail routes in the Naxal heartland in Chhattisgarh for evacuating rich minerals from Bastar.In the rail budget 2013-14 presented on Tuesday in the Parliament, the ministry of railway had included the provision of conducting survey for laying new rail lines in the South Bastar region that had been endowed with rich minerals especially iron ore. The rail lines would pass through the red zone.The left insurgent group active in Bastar had cast shadow on the iron ore mines. Following the red terror, many companies including Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, Essar had failed to develop the mines allotted to it. Only the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) is mining iron ore in the region.The new rail lines, for which a survey would be conducted, include Kirandul-Sukma-Malkangiri, Bijapur-Kirandul, and a one from Maharashtra border to Bhopalpatnam. Kirandul houses NMDC's iron ore complex from where the company mines close to 32 million tonnes of iron ore per annum.The Kirandul is connected with Visakhapatnam by rail line through which NMDC evacuates the iron ore from its two mechanised mines located in the region. The new routes in the region would mark new rail path that would facilitate companies including NMDC to transport minerals from the region.

The proposed rail lines would identify routes that would pass through Southern end of Bastar. The existing line passes through the eastern part of Bastar. The proposal of the ministry of railway would ensure a second route in the region where only one passenger train ply as against a score of goods trains every day.The rail budget also included the rail corridor project that would connect the coal bearing pockets in state's eastern and northern with the main rail head. The project had been designed and envisaged by the Chhattisgarh government.

"Despite this, the rail budget was disappointing for Chhattisgarh," Chief Minister Raman Singh said. The ministry had failed to set any time limit for the completion of rail line survey work in Bastar, he added.