Title - Kottur-Harihar railway line remains a mirage

Almost 18 years have elapsed since work was launched

The reintroduction of passenger train services between Hospet, Kottur and Harihar appears to be a never-ending wait for the people of Hospet, Sandur and Hagaribommanahalli taluks in Bellary district.Almost 18 years have elapsed and more than Rs. 300 crore has been spent on laying the track and creating infrastructure facilities on the Hospet-Kottur-Harihar line. Now, an additional Rs. 42.36 crore is needed to modify a steep gradient, indicating that the introduction of passenger train services is likely to take longer.

Almost complete

According to information provided by the Deputy Chief Engineer (Construction), Davangere, South Western Railway, under the Right to Information Act with regard to the reasons for non-completion of the work or not starting the Hospet-Kottur-Harihar line, the 66.61 km Kottur-Harihar line has almost been completed, except for some protective/maintenance work. Between Hospet and Kottur, a 20-km stretch from Hospet to Gunda has been opened for goods traffic, as the section from Hospet to Gunda Road has a steep gradient, which is not feasible for passenger traffic. Therefore, a detailed modification plan had been sent to the Railway Board for approval and sanction of Rs. 42.36 crore.

“The section will be opened for passenger traffic after easing the steep gradient,” the engineer said.

Protests

He also said that the Railways was not in a position to carry out the work pending between Kottur and Harihar because of protests by farmers of Ganganarasi, Kurubarahalli, Hottegenahalli and Kenchanahalli, who are seeking compensation through Lok Adalat. As part of the unigauge system introduced and implemented during when C.K. Jaffer Sharief was the Minister for Railways, passenger train services between Hospet and Kottur were stopped for the conversion of meter-gauge into broad-gauge.

Flagged off

Mr. Sharief, who flagged off the gauge conversion work, had also laid the foundation stone for extending the line by 65 km from Kottur to Harihar in Davangere district, in 1995. Establishing the link between Kottur and Harihar was considered essential as it would have helped hinterland development, besides linking the east coast (Visakhapatnam) with the west coast (Mangalore port).

The line was expected to facilitate transportation of coal, iron ore and fertilizers, besides passenger trains towards Dakshina Kannada and Shimoga.Members of the Hospet-Kottur-Harihar Horata Kriya Samiti met in Hagaribommanahalli recently in the presence of Maheshwar Swami of Nandipur Math and decided to meet P.T. Parameshwar Nayak, Minister for Labour and Bellary district in-charge, and other elected representatives from both the districts and prevail upon them to urge the State and Union governments to complete the ongoing work expeditiously for the introduction of passenger train services.

“We will first request Mr. Nayak and other legislators to lead a delegation to the Chief Minister to urge him to get the required funds released,” Y. Yamunesh, member of the Divisional Rail Users’ Consultative Committee, told The Hindu .