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The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s plan to set up a so-called multi-modal terminal which provides rail, road and waterways connectivity in Varanasi , Uttar Pradesh has run into trouble because of places of worship that have been illegally constructed on the land meant for the project.
“Land has been an issue in this project. There are certain sensitivities; there are three mosques and four temples on the railway land on which we want to build the terminal,” a senior official at the ministry of road transport said requesting anonymity. This person added that the ministry doesn’t want to push things on this front because demolishing places of worship could become a contentious issue ahead of the next year’s parliamentary polls.
The proposed terminal at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency is part of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP, a Rs 5,369 crore World Bank aided project on the Ganga, aimed at augmenting the navigational capacity of the Varanasi to Haldia stretch of the river, to enable commercial navigation of at least 1500-2000 ton vessels).
The land in question belongs to the Railways which leased it out to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for construction of a bus and a railway terminal.
“This is railways’ land and has been given to the NHAI on an ‘as is where is’ basis and they were to further develop that land. The issue is that on some of the land there are mosques and temples. They are unable to find a way to remove them. So i don’t think that project will be able to go forward,” a senior official at ministry of railway said on condition for anonymity.
The government had awarded the contract to AFCONS Infrastructure for the construction of phase I of the Multi-Modal Terminal at Varanasi for Rs 170 crore.
“ Railways land is usually very old, this one must be around 150 years old hence we don’t know when or how these structures were built they assume that they have been built in the last 20 years. The land is around 100 acres big. We had handed over the rights of the land to NHAI about two months ago,” the railways official said.
The Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the construction of the project was prepared by NHAI. It involved building a multi-modal terminal including a railway station and a bus terminal. The land is situated at Kashi station in Varanasi. “There is no easy solution to such sensitive issues. The basic issue is that before construction has to happen it is important to remove these places of worship. NHAI has asked the civil administration to look into it but they also have their own compulsion since this happens to be a sensitive religious issue,” the railway ministry official added.
The project has been caught up in land related issues since its inception. Another piece of land near the proposed water terminal couldn’t be acquired initially.
“We had some issues which were finally sorted out. There was a group of ‘Hindu Mahants’ who had ownership of the land and they argued that they would not vacate this till the government gave them another plot in the same area, which also was disputed. Officials and state had to get involved to resolve it,” a senior official at the ministry of shipping said.
Union minister for road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for the terminal at Varanasi in August, 2016. The ministry is now considering changing its plans. “There are many land related issues in this project. There was also a small patch of land which was allotted and leased to some trust and now the trust claims to own the land. There are issues with some religious structures. So we are looking at whether it is feasible to overcome this or adjust the entire layout of the multi-modal hub, “ the road ministry official said.
Under JMVP, three multi-modal terminals are being constructed at Varanasi, Sahibganj and Haldia. The total financial progress for the project at the end of 2017-18 was ~678.85 crore or 13.05%. JMVP is scheduled to be completed by December, 2022.
According to officials at the ministry of shipping and the IWAI, the government is keen to get the water terminal inaugurated by PM in November. According to IWAI, nearly 85% of the work has been completed for the water terminal. The agency added that all issues related to land have been addressed. “The project construction is going on schedule without any hindrances,” IWAI said.
Queries mailed to the ministries of railways, shipping and road transport and highways remained unanswered.
First Published: Oct 19, 2018 00:06 IST
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