Gowda questioned on the vast repository of vacant land owned by the Railways
The Railway minister DV Sadananda Gowda while answering to a question in Parliament mentioned that the Indian Railways is sitting on a vacant land bank of 47,336 hectare and 942 hectare under encroachment out of a total land area of 4,57,689 hectare.
The vacant land is mostly in the form of narrow strips along tracks. He mentioned that these strips are required for servicing and maintenance of track and other infrastructure.
The vacant land is also utilised for execution of infrastructural projects to meet future growth needs. These include projects like doubling traffic facilities, rail coach and component factories. Gowda also mentioned that the vacant land, which is not required by the railways for immediate operational needs, is utilised for commercial development, wherever feasible. This step is taken to generate revenue for the railways to be used for other purposes. This router has helped the ministry to mobilise financial resources through the Rail Land Development Authority.
Gowda stated that the encroachments cause bottlenecks and safety hazards in train operations and difficulties in track maintenance, which at times affects the line capacity and throughput.
He also mentioned that Regular measures are taken to protect railway land from encroachment, which includes licensing of land to railway employees, provision of boundary walls and tree plantation at vulnerable locations. However in spite of these measures, sometimes the government fails to stop encroachments due to the vast expense of lands.
Source- The Financial Express
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