Sorry, Minister is busy on illegal line

New routes can be sanctioned only by the approval of the Planning Commission, but this did not have the required permission, sources in the Eastern Central Railways said.

A spokesperson of the ECR said he ‘‘was not sure if the Planning Commission approved it or not.’’ Minister Nitish Kumar said the line does not need the Commission’s approval as it is just ‘‘material modification.’’ (see interview)

Work has already begun in the Neora-Daniama-Bihar Sharif-Barbigah-Sheikpura route which will run parallel to the existing Danapur-Patna-Fatuah-Bhaktiarpur-Kieul route, at a distance of 8 km-25 km.

How can money be spent on an entirely new track without budgetory sanction? The ministry developed ingenious ways for helping the minister’s constituency. The estimated Rs 255 crore for the Neora-Daniama-Sheikpura will come from what is called the ‘‘Material Modification’’ of the existing Fatuah-Islampur line.

‘‘Material modification should mean adding extra facilities for existing lines, for instance, constructing an over-bridge or a platform. In this case, an entirely new line is being constructed which cannot be included under material modification and is hence illegal,’’ said a senior officer of the ECR.

In effect, Rs 255 crore will be ‘‘spent’’ on ‘‘material modification’’ of the Fatuah-Islampur line which was restored between 2000 and 2003 at a cost of Rs 108 crore.

Fatuah-Islampur line — on which the ‘‘material modification’’ is done — meets the new Neora-Sheikpura line at Daniama. Sources pointed out that the new route could not have stood the rigorous analysis of the Planning Commission for financial viability and other criteria, given the fact that the new line runs parallel to an existing one and connects no strategic locations.

The significance of the places that the new line connects is only that they fall in VIP constituencies. But A K Chandra, chief public relations officer of the ECR, said the new line is necessary to ease the Buxar-Mokama sector which is saturated.

‘‘Unmanageable number of trains make loss of punctuality a regular feature on this sector. The new line will ease this, will be an alternate route in case of accidents and can be used as a bypass for goods trains to avoid Patna,’’ he said.

Page 31.2.1 of Works Machinery and Rolling Stock Programme of Railways for 2003-2004 (Part 2-Detailed Programme) — it is called the Pink Book — contains details under the rather vague title ‘‘Fatuah-Islampur including Material Modification for extension of new line from Bihar Sharif to Barbiga. (19 km).’’

Even here, no mention is made to the other sections in the new line under construction — meaning most parts of the new line is not even mentioned in the budget. ‘‘Money for the material modification is allotted in the budget without specifying the work. Details of the works is decided at lower levels,’’ a railway official dealing with the project said.

The 2003-2004 Pink Book estimates the total cost of the Fatuah-Islampur restoration and its material maintenance at Rs 406 crore. Of this Rs 108 crore have already been sent for the restoration of the main line.

The rest, Rs 298 crore, is for material modification. The estimated cost of the new Neora-Sheikpura line, Rs 255 crore, will be shown in the book as the material modification of the Fatuah-Islampur line.

Since no line is completed at the estimated cost, pleasing the voters of three ministers will be much more costly for the Railways.