RailEnquiry

Abohar : While most of the politicians and NGOs have been condemning the Railways for an “exceptional delay” in making the Abohar-Fazilka rail link operational, the fact file indicates that the state government also needs to share the blame.The last phase of construction of the rail track was held up till 2010 as the state government indulged in dilly-dallying tactics over handing over the possession of the land that was in the possession of former tenants of the Government Seed Farm in Abohar. Finally, SDM NS Brar got the land vacated under heavy security cover that included deploying anti-riot and bullet-proof vehicles. However, the Railways remained apathetic in commissioning the rail link for more than a year after its completion.Former Rajya Sabha member Virendra Kataria had initially proposed the rail link in 1994 stressing that it would pave the way to link Udhampur (J&K) and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) cantonments. The Planning commission gave its nod in 1995. In 1998, the then Railway Minister Ram Bilas Paswan sanctioned Rs 32 crore to conduct the final survey and initiate the process for acquisition of land.In September 2004, the publication of a notification under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, set the project in motion to acquire land to lay the 42-km-long railway line between Abohar and Fazilka.The notification authorised the Fazilka SDM to acquire the land earmarked for the project in Ramkot, Choohriwala Dhanna, Beganwali, Awwa, Khippanwali, Sultanpura, Jandwala Kharta, Dangarkhera, Nihalkhera, Sureshwala, Heeranwali, Ghallu and Khuikhera villages.Some farmers, including tenants, who had been cultivating the land owned by the Government Seed Farm, were not ready to vacate the government land. They demanded compensation to which they were not entitled.The then SAD president, Parkash Singh Badal, promised during an election meeting on January 29, 2007, here that tenants belonging to Raisikh community, would be compensated. Later, as a chief minister, he released special ex-gratia grants to the tenants as rules forbid payment of compensation.The Public Works Department of the Northern Railway had published tender notices in various newspapers inviting offers for the construction of 8-km stretch of the railway link just five days before the Lok Sabha elections in May 2004.Though the process of acquisition had not been completed, the then Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar, laid the foundation stone for the project at Fazilka in the presence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Lok Sabha member Zora Singh Mann.Intriguingly, the demand for high-level inquiry as to how tenders for the project had been floated when the land was yet to be acquired was ignored.