The Udhampur to Baramulla rail link has been dogged with problems and is eight years behind schedule
The Delhi High Court today gave the centre one month to spell out its stand on the contentious Katra-Banihal railway line. The court which was hearing a petition by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking a realignment of the existing track due to safety considerations, today said that "it's only concern was the safety of citizens and not the cost" .
Speaking on behalf of CPIL, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan drew attention of the court to audio recordings of a review meeting of the rail project in which a former senior officer who was incharge of the project is heard saying "Do you want to go back and tell him (the PM) it's a national project, he will have to be consulted and cabinet will have to be consulted, will you go and tell sir we b***** well made a serious mistake! Can we afford to say this?"
Reacting to this, the court observed "there was a different PM then and today there is a new PM, why should they be afraid of him".
The Udhampur to Baramulla rail link is the railways most ambitious project however it has been dogged with problems and is eight years behind schedule with a huge cost escalation from an initial 1,500 crores to 20,000 crores.
In February this year, an expert committee headed by Dr E Sreedharan, Delhi's former metro chief had, in a scathing indictment of the ongoing project, said that it was unable endorse the current project due to "reservations about the survivability of the present alignment" and "particularly the arch bridge across the Chenab"
The Delhi High Court today said that "this route is not as safe and must be considered in the wake of the recent events in Nepal". The court has also asked the government to spell out its stand on the issue and asked the centre to file an affidavit in a month's time.