Chhattisgarh to sign MOU with Railways for new project
February 17th, 2012 - 2:36 pm ICT by IANS
Raipur, Feb 17 (IANS) The Chhattisgarh government and the Indian Railways are all set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) later this month for setting up industrial rail corridors in the state’s vast and impoverished northern region that has an estimated 20 percent of India’s coal deposits, top official sources said Friday.
“Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh called on Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi Thursday in New Delhi and both have given the green signal to the ambitious industrial rail corridor project in Chhattisgarh,” a senior government official told IANS.
He added that the Chhattisgarh government and the Indian Railways will sign an MoU later this month for the execution of the project that will build about 453-km long new rail lines covering seven extremely backward but coal-rich districts.
The multi-million rupee project will prove to be a boon for the massive tribal and backward people of the area who have been left out of the mainstream development for a long time.
Sources say the Chhattisgarh industrial rail corridors project is basically the brainchild of Raman Singh, who has been heading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the mineral-rich state since Dec 2003.
The project was prepared by a working group comprising mainly of top Chhattisgarh government officials and Arunendra Kumar, general manager of South East Central Railway (SECR), India’s most profit-making rail zone.
It will immensely improve passenger and freight rail services in districts where dozens of companies, including the public sector National Thermal Power Corporation, are either setting up major coal-fired power plants or are expanding their production capacities.
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- Chhattisgarh to add 1,500 MW power by 2012 - Nov 22, 2011
- DMRC signs MoU with Haryana for Badarpur-Faridabad link - Mar 26, 2012
- Chhattisgarh can maintain 11 percent GDP: Raman Singh - Dec 08, 2011
- Chhattisgarh's prime farm lands caught in 'power' grab - Mar 02, 2011
- Chhattisgarh seeks central help to develop coal-rich areas - Nov 26, 2009
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- Export of natural resources a crime: Raman Singh - Nov 25, 2010
- Chhattisgarh to get 2,000 MW power from NTPC project - Nov 26, 2010
- Rail budget highly disappointing: Raman Singh - Feb 25, 2011
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Tags: bharatiya janata party, central railway, chhattisgarh government, chief minister, coal deposits, coal fired power, coal fired power plants, corridor project, deputy chairman, freight rail, indian railways, mainstream development, memorandum of understanding, montek singh ahluwalia, production capacities, rail corridor, rail corridors, raman singh, time sources, trivedi