Title - Koderma-Giridih railway track opened

Hazaribag: BabulalMarandi on Tuesday flagged off the first passenger train between Koderma and Nawadih on Koderma-Nawadih-Giridih railway track under Dhanbad division. The railway network - the foundation stone for which was laid by former prime minister AtalBihariVajpayee in 2005 - will help people of Koderma, Domchanch, Markacho, Maheshpu and Nawadih .The Rs 371.36-crore Koderma-Giridih track project, covering 111 km, was sanctioned and supposed to be commissioned by 2005-06. However, work could not b started due to lack of funds. Later, the Babulal Marandi government agreed to meet 50% of the project cost, which was escalated to Rs 787.87 crore due to the delay. The JVM-P chief had said the project would create new avenues for employment generation in the mineral-rich belt on the Grand Chord section of the East Central Railway, which could not be exploited earlier due to lack of rail connectivity.

DRM Sudhir Kumar, Dhanbad division, said all efforts are on to complete the line by December. The passenger train will have five compartments and will be hauled by diesel engine. It will make two trips everyday except Sunday. tnn

He said he was happy since it was during his tenure as central minister for environment and forest that the project came up for forest clearance. But he said that he would have been more happy had the entire Koderma-Giridih(111 KM) route been completed.