PlanCom for a separate body

The Planning Commission has proposed a separate corporation for speedy implementation of five railway projects of strategic importance in the Himalayan region.

The precedent is the Konkan Railway Corporation and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. In China, officials said, a separate Hill Railway Corporation had been entrusted with completion of projects of national importance.

The issue came up during a recent meeting between the Commission and the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh for finalising the state's annual plan for 2013-14, state officials said.

Some of the project ideas in question are along India's border areas and have been stuck due to difficult terrain and massive implementation cost. They include the 125 km Rishikesh-Karanprayag line, involving a project cost of Rs 4,295 crore, in Uttarakhand. The other project in that state is the Rs 2,791 crore Tanakpur-Bageshwar line, costing Rs 2,791 crore.

The other three projects are the Rs 13,631 crore Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch rail link, covering 233 km in Jammu and Kashmir, the 498 km Bilaspur-Mandi link in Himachal Pradesh and the 110 km Rupai-Parasuramkund link in Arunachal Pradesh.

These five are part of 14 such projects in the Himalayan region, stuck for a long while despite being strategically important. A few years earlier, the Commission had asked the railway ministry to prepare a blueprint of the funds needed, technical inputs and likely time for completion.