Sandeep Pattnaik, AP Bureau:

New Delhi, 20/11/2019: Construction of a third railway line between Rourkela and Jharsuguda has been put on hold due to large scale encroachment on railway land, around 801 in number. Nearly 4000 people of nearly 747 families are to be displaced if the project is commissioned. Replying to an unstarred question by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Juel Oram, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal replied in the on-going winter session of Parliament.

“The land belongs to Railway and encroachers have encroached the land illegally. There is no provision from the Railway for rehabilitation of encroachers and the same has been advised to the State Government,” Goyal said.

“The latest anticipated cost of the project is Rs 1312.97 crore. An expenditure of Rs 453.94 crore has already been incurred up to March 2019 and an outlay of Rs 150 crore has been provided in the 2019-20 budget,” Goyal commented.