JK demands Rs 120 cr compensation from Railways

Srinagar, Oct 27: The Jammu and Kashmir Government has demanded Rs 120 crore compensation for undertaking the repair work of roads damaged during the construction of railway tracks in the state.

Chief Engineer Nazir Ahmad Shah Roads and Buildings (R&B) said his department has demanded Rs 120 crore from the railway for repair of the roads in the state.

The roads were damaged by the trucks and other vehicles which were being used to carry the material for constructing of tracks, Mr Shah said in a television programme here.

To a question that trucks carrying the material for the construction of rail track have completedly damaged the roads, particuarly Kanihama, Wanabal, Bagh-e-Mehtab and Gangabugh Narkaroh, Mr Shah said the matter has been taken with the railway authorities.

He said it is the duty of the railway to repair and reconstruct the roads being used by them for undertaking construction work of tracks.

He said the government has sought Rs 120 crore from the railways for undertaking the repair and reconstruction work of these roads.

When a caller asked why the roads constructed by his department and other state government agency gets damaged early as compared to roads being constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the Chief Engineer said that BRO spends Rs one crore for constructing one kilometre road while the state agencies could spend only Rs ten lakhs to Rs 15 lakhs for same.

Meanwhile, construction work of world's tallest and third longest railway bridge over river Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir is in progress.

Work is also in progress to build India's longest tunnel crossing through the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas to connect Banihal with Lower Munda.

The 'Chenab Bridge', designed by Kortes of Finland and Leonhard Andra and Partner of Germany, would be constructed at a cost of Rs 512 crore in about 30 months over Salal Dam in Reasi by Konkan Railway Corporation would be 362 m in height and 1315 m in length. It would be trussed steel arch with a span of 480 m and about 26,000 metric tonne structural steel would be used in its construction, for which auxillary cable way type bridge will be used.

The work on another bridge across the river Anji has also already started, the Railway sources said.

They said the 10.96-km tunnel on Laole-Qazigund section of the ambitious 120-km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla new broad gauge railway line project will cross through the Pir Panjal range and connect Banihal with Lower Munda and eventually the rest of the country with Kashmir.

The 'Pir Panjal Tunnel' will be constructed by the Mumbai-based Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), which has bagged the total orders worth more than Rs 580 crore on the project.

The sources said the Qazigund-Baramulla section of the project would be completed by December 2007 which is as per the schedule, as about 70 per cent construction work has been completed so far.

However, they said the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla project would not be completed on its specified target of 2008-09 because of the challenges, including difficult mountainous terrain besides the geological, climatic and man-made challenges which have made this a gigantic project. The entire project comprises 70-80 per cent tunneling work which is even more challenging.

However, they said both the Chenab Bridge and the Pir Panjal Tunnel would be built within the target period of 2008-09.

The sources said the Konkan Railway has been entrusted with the construction work of the most critical and difficult section between Katra and Laole in the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramullah project due to its expertise.

UNI