Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is coordinating with concerned state governments to expedite forest clearance for 20 railway projects, which are delayed across various zones. Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his ministry was pursuing these cases with environment ministry and concerned state governments through regular coordination meetings with the Chief Secretary and other concerned officials.
Out of the 20 projects, five are held up in East Coast zone while three in East Central zone and 12 in other zones. Projects held in East Coast zone include the 82 km long Haridaspur-Paradeep new line, the 98 km long Angul-Sukinda Road new line and the 25 km long Talcher-Bimlagarh new line projects where forest land is yet to be transferred to railways.
Chowdhury said his ministry could not fix the time by which the work on these projects may resume as these projects is not solely in control of Railways. However, work in non-forest areas of these projects have been taken up.
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