NEW DELHI, Nov 25:
Not happy over the way the Kashmir rail link project is being executed, a Parliamentary panel has expressed serious concern over losses of more than Rs 3,200 crore due to various factors like bad planning, inadequate surveys and delayed decisions by Railways.
Public Accounts Committee in its latest report noted with displeasure that the general planning failure on the part of Railways has contributed to a loss of Rs 3258.92 crore as on 2010.
On the delay in project execution and cost escalation, the 22-member committee headed by K V Thomas noted that the initial project was estimated at Rs 1500 crore in 1994-95 which was revised to Rs 3077.23 crore in 1989 and further revised to Rs 9341.44 crore in 2010. As of September, 2013, the estimate has touched Rs 20,000 crore based on the rates of 2010.
The PAC report submitted in Parliament today suggested that effective advance measures should be taken in cost estimation of similar challenging projects in future.
On the delay, it noted that Railways decided in July 2008 to suspend the work in some sections until a final decision on alignment was taken.
It was found that by that time an expenditure of about Rs 1791 crore had already been incurred and about 13.18 km of tunneling done in the Katra-Banihal section of the Kashmir rail link project. Besides a total length of about 1.8 km of already constructed tunnels that collapsed was abandoned in the Katra-Banihal section.
Moreover, an amount of Rs 61.39 crore was paid towards idling of men and machinery as the work remained suspended for 14 months.
All these are pointers towards deficient planning, inadequate surveys and belated decisions, the report said.
The committee refused to buy the ministry’s argument that sometimes mid-course corrections become inevitable and difficulties encountered cannot be apprehended in advance.
The PAC said it was of the firm view that the problems could not be foreseen because of lack of initial surveys, studies and planning, despite the ministry’s justifications to the contrary.
The committee, therefore, exhorted Railway Ministry to exercise due prudence and diligence for smoother implementation of the remaining project besides plugging the loopholes before undertaking similar challenging but important projects in future.
The panel advocated that along with selection of proper gradient, other factors like curvatures, level of traffic, speed envisaged, stability, constructibility, safety and maintenance of structure should be accorded due weightage and consideration.
According to PAC, the ingress of water and collapse of tunnels, changes in design of bridges, non-finalisation of drawings also delayed the completion of the project and it depicts deficient planning and lack of expert consultations.
Had the implementing agencies resorted to prudent planning including consultation with renowned experts at the very beginning itself, it would have been possible to minimise uncertainty on account of constructibility thereby paving the way for smoother implementation of the project, it said.
The committee noted that due to slow progress, the target date for completion of Katra-Banihal section has been revised to December 2017.
It took note of the tremendous hardships and hostile conditions including natural calamities that Railways had to face in executing the project.
The Ministry contended that factors like uninhibited, inaccessible areas without approach roads, presence of active thrusts and faults, steeper hills, and valleys were unavoidable and hence it did not make any difference in the decision making process.
However, the committee said it was not convinced with the ministry’s contention.
The ministry further reasoned that the prevailing political situation coupled with security issues and expectation of people necessitated early commencement of work.
Appreciating the ministry’s concern, the committee said it was of the view that requisite field investigations and technical feasibility studies should have been carried out before taking the critical decision on selection of the alignment, more so considering the difficult and unexplored terrain of the region.
The committee noted with concern that the ministry adopted high risk strategy without an overall assurance of the technical feasibility of the alignment. (PTI)
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