Lagatar24 Network
Ranchi, Feb 3: Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday hailed the union budget and claimed that budgetary outlay for expansion of rail network in Jharkhand has been increased 11 times in comparison to what the state got during fiscal year 2009-14.
The minister said that in the 2023-24 budget the central government allocated Rs. 5271 crore for rail development in Jharkhand which was only Rs. 457 crore during 2009-14. Minister said that to improve mobile connectivity in villages and left wing extremism areas of Jharkhand a sum of total Rs 4,559 Crore has been allocated under BharatNet scheme.
He said that currently in Jharkhand a total of 72 surveys are going on covering 3458 km. Besides, the construction of 370 ROB/RUB is going on since 2014.
He pointed out that techno-economic feasibility studies of four railway stations have been started namely Dhanbad, Jasidih, Hatia and Tatanagar and 57 railway stations in Jharkhand have been included under Amrit Bharat Station scheme.
As the Jharkhand government has alleged neglect of Jharkhand in the budget, the minister pointed out Ranchi railway station is undergoing a major facelift as Rs 444 Crore was sanctioned for infrastructure development.
The minister said that around Rs 1300 Crore is proposed for development of new rail lines including line connecting for energy corridor, Janjatiya Gaurav corridor, Koderma-Tilaiya and others.
A total 19 projects for doubling to the tune of Rs 1900 Crore were approved including Dhanbad-Sonnagar (Rs. 450 Crore), Ramna-Singrauli (Rs. 412.8 Crore), Bondamunda-Ranchi (Rs. 309 Crore), Kharagpur-Adityapur 3rd line (Rs. 300 Crore) among others.
He also explained the current status of telecom schemes under the Universal Service Obligation Fund. As per the minister, the mobile connectivity in Left Wing Extremism affected areas is being upgraded as all 816 planned sites are radiating. Further, these sites are being upgraded to 4G. under phase 2 work is in progress at 450 sites.
As far as 4G Mobile services in uncovered villages of aspirational districts are concerned work is in progress at 827 uncovered villages. He said that a total of 1,616 villages have been covered under 4 G. The BharatNet project has been completed in 4,307 out of 4,395 Gram Panchayats. Further, BharatNet will also connect 31,141 villages other than Gram Panchayats of Jharkhand for which a total Rs. 4,559 Crore have been allocated in 2023-24.
