Rail connectivity eludes three tribal districts of Madhya Pradesh Dhar, Khargone and Barwani. The Railways that conducted a survey to introduce rail network in the districts found it economically unviable and has not considered the districts as tribal.
On the other hand the Madhya Pradesh government has marked the three districts as tribal districts that are economically backward and need special attention. The residents of the region feel absence of rail network has adversely impacted the social and economic developments.
Repeated demands of locals for rail connectivity have fallen on deaf ears of Railway Ministry officials. Central Railways, that conducted a reconnaissance engineering-cum-traffic survey for a new broad gauge line from Khandwa to Dhar via Khargone and Barwani in 2010 in its survey report to the Railway Board in January 2011, termed the rail line as financially not viable. The report was compiled by Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Central Railway.
But to many, the survey was a mere eye-wash. Dr O P Khandelwal, a social worker, said during the survey many aspects were left untouched intentionally. "They passed on the wrong information in the report," alleged Khandelwal, who is a retired professor from local Barwani College. As per the report the capital cost of the project had been estimated at Rs 2025.05 crore for 260km rail line. Thus per km cost came up to Rs 7.70 crore, which Sharma termed quite high.
The survey report by the Central Railways also does not categorize these districts under economically or industrially backward sections. However, the Department of tribal development has kept Barwani, Dhar, Khandwa and Khargone on the list of tribal districts of the state. Also, as per the notification of commerce, industry and employment departments of MP Government, these districts come under the C-category of backward districts .
"Economic viability is not the only parameter for approval of any railway line. There are several criteria for the approval of laying the railway lines. New railway line projects can even be approved considering the social and economic development of backward areas," said Kahndelwal adding that there is a clear conspiracy to keep these areas deprived of railway line. Furnishing wrong information in the survey was a gross injustice to the people of these tribal districts.
Survey report acquired through RTI had also highlighted another manipulation. The reports stated that earning from goods will be nil in the first one decade.
Experts say that they only considered the agricultural produce scenario, which cannot be justified.
"They deliberately avoided mention of cash crops such as cotton, banana, sugar cane and other horticulture products in the report," he said adding that as per government record, these districts together produced 4.81 lakh tonnes of agricultural produce in 2006-07 and soyabean were produced to the tune of 3.92 lakh tonnes. In the absence of railway line, all these cash crops were traded in local mandis, which affected the earnings of farmers.When contacted, chief administrative officer (Construction) of central railway, M K Gupta said that survey was not prepared during his tenure, however he promised to look into the matter.
On the other hand the Madhya Pradesh government has marked the three districts as tribal districts that are economically backward and need special attention. The residents of the region feel absence of rail network has adversely impacted the social and economic developments.
Repeated demands of locals for rail connectivity have fallen on deaf ears of Railway Ministry officials. Central Railways, that conducted a reconnaissance engineering-cum-traffic survey for a new broad gauge line from Khandwa to Dhar via Khargone and Barwani in 2010 in its survey report to the Railway Board in January 2011, termed the rail line as financially not viable. The report was compiled by Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Central Railway.
But to many, the survey was a mere eye-wash. Dr O P Khandelwal, a social worker, said during the survey many aspects were left untouched intentionally. "They passed on the wrong information in the report," alleged Khandelwal, who is a retired professor from local Barwani College. As per the report the capital cost of the project had been estimated at Rs 2025.05 crore for 260km rail line. Thus per km cost came up to Rs 7.70 crore, which Sharma termed quite high.
The survey report by the Central Railways also does not categorize these districts under economically or industrially backward sections. However, the Department of tribal development has kept Barwani, Dhar, Khandwa and Khargone on the list of tribal districts of the state. Also, as per the notification of commerce, industry and employment departments of MP Government, these districts come under the C-category of backward districts .
"Economic viability is not the only parameter for approval of any railway line. There are several criteria for the approval of laying the railway lines. New railway line projects can even be approved considering the social and economic development of backward areas," said Kahndelwal adding that there is a clear conspiracy to keep these areas deprived of railway line. Furnishing wrong information in the survey was a gross injustice to the people of these tribal districts.
Survey report acquired through RTI had also highlighted another manipulation. The reports stated that earning from goods will be nil in the first one decade.
Experts say that they only considered the agricultural produce scenario, which cannot be justified.
"They deliberately avoided mention of cash crops such as cotton, banana, sugar cane and other horticulture products in the report," he said adding that as per government record, these districts together produced 4.81 lakh tonnes of agricultural produce in 2006-07 and soyabean were produced to the tune of 3.92 lakh tonnes. In the absence of railway line, all these cash crops were traded in local mandis, which affected the earnings of farmers.When contacted, chief administrative officer (Construction) of central railway, M K Gupta said that survey was not prepared during his tenure, however he promised to look into the matter.
