Rail Land Development Authority gets cracking to exploit vacant land

New Delhi, Jan 19 (UNI) The newly constituted Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) today held its first Board meeting here to explore ways and means for development of nearly 4.23 lakh hectares vacant railway land and air space for commercial use for the purpose of generating revenue through non-tariff measures.

The meeting, held under the Chairmanship of Mr R R Jaruhar, Member (Engineering), was attended by B B Saran, Vice-Chairman, Ashok Gupta, Member (Planning, Infrastructure and development), A.

K. Bhatnagar, Member (Finance), Deepak Kashyap, Member (Planning, Rail Traffic Coordination) and Desh Ratan Gupta, OSD/RLDA.

The RLDA was constituted by the Railway Ministry by an amendment to the Railways Act, 1989 with effect from November 1, 2006. The Authority cosists of Chairman, Vice-Chairman and four members, including one from outside (non-Railway member), who will be an expert in real estate.

The RLDA will take up such vacant land for commercial development which is not required by Railways for its operational use as entrusted to it by the Raailway Ministry.

It will also take up provision of modern amenities for railway users through commercial development of vacant land and air space at nominated stations.

Apart from generating additional revenue for the development of Railways, RLDA is to play a key role in developing world class stations, provide passenger amenities through construction of food plazas and shopping malls and construct budget hotels.

With nearly 4.23 lakh hectares of land across the country, the Railways is one of the largest landowners in the country. While around 3.19 lakh hectares have been used for railway operations, including construction of rail tracks and other structures, 43,000 hectares is lying unutilised and thus available for commercial use.

Around 2,240 hectares of railway land have been encroached.

UNI