The project was first announced in 2008. Its first phase will be completed by December this year, while the second phase has seen no physical progress, the national transporter informed the PAC.
“The committee notes that the project has disbursed 56.22 per cent (₹500.93 crore) of its ₹890.89 crore sanctioned estimate by January 2024, while achieving 26 per cent physical progress (now 29 per cent in Phase-I). This indicates a misalignment between financial expenditure and project milestones, with major outlays on land acquisition (₹168.46 crore, not reflected in physical progress), civil works (₹206.33 crore), electrical (₹14.49 crore), signalling and telecommunication (₹39.46 crore), stores (₹17.94 crore), design and general charges (₹52.14 crore), and contingencies (₹1.86 crore),” said the panel chaired by Congress member of parliament KC Venugopal.
This raises questions about the efficiency of financial management, particularly given audit findings on idle resources and contract extensions, the panel added.
The panel said contracts were awarded without approved designs, drawings, and clear sites, in violation of Railway Board's 2009 codal instructions, resulting in idle resources worth ₹7.06 crore.
Several practices during the period of the project’s works, including the awarding of civil works contracts for foot overbridges (FOBs), platforms, and other infrastructure in anticipation of land availability that did not materialise due to encroachments and PAP resettlement delays, have led to financial losses and eroded public trust in management of the project by the government, the panel said. To add to that, no specific accountability had been fixed, despite the project's initiation in 2009 and extensions, pushing the completion beyond the original target of March 2021, it said.
The committee also said that the acquisition of the required 10,139.6 sqm of land for Phase-I (Kurla to Parel), comprising 6,500.26 sqm of private land and 3,639.34 sqm of government land, has been significantly delayed, with only 2,656 sqm acquired and possession received as of January 2024.
The delay, the report found, is primarily on account of the slow progress in land acquisition processes initiated in January 2018, complex legal disputes such as those involving the Swadeshi Mill land, and the protracted rehabilitation and resettlement of 714 Project Affected Persons (PAPs) in the Dharavi and Dadar areas, where physical possession of 3,092.59 sqm remains pending despite full payment to the state government in 2022.
It recommended that the railways ministry establish a dedicated land acquisition and resettlement cell.
The committee has also suggested the railways look at other models of land acquisition, as the process in urban areas like Mumbai is often delayed due to legal challenges and disputes.
“To expedite the process, the Committee advise the Ministry to study successful models, such as that of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which allows for smoother land acquisition with minimal legal obstacles, by limiting challenges primarily to compensation disputes,” the panel said. The project is vital for decongesting Mumbai’s rail system.
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