Prime Minister, Narendra Modi Wednesday held his 4th monthly video conference under his pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) initiative, with Union Secretaries of various Ministries and Chief Secretaries of States.Chief Secretary J&K, Mr. Iqbal Khandey also participated in the video conference.The Prime Minister in respect of J&K reviewed the progress of Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project. He directed the Chairman, Railway Board, A K Mittal to remove all bottlenecks in the timely completion of the prestigious Rail Project. Earlier, Chairman, Railway Board informed the Prime Minister that 215 km of the total 326 km long Rail link project has already been completed, however, the remaining 111km Katra-Banihal section is still under construction and only 35% work of the said section is complete. He said the Katra-Banihal section passes through difficult terrain, moreover, many PILs have been filed in different Courts over the years which has caused delay in the timely completion of the project.
He further said that the construction work on this section has been undertaken through three agencies viz Northern Railway (5km), Konkan Railway (35 km) and Ircon Railway (71 km). The work involves construction of 40 bridges (7 km) and 28 tunnels of 94 km length.
The 54 km Jammu-Udhampur section was commissioned in 2005 and the remaining 272 Km portion between Udhampur and Baramulla was declared as National Project. Till date, the 118 Km section of Qazigund-Baramulla, 18km section of Qazigund-Banihal and the 25 Km section of Udhampur-Katra have been completed.Under PRAGATI, Prime Minister conducts meetings with Union Secretaries and Chief Secretaries on monthly basis to address common man’s grievances besides monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of Government of India as well as important projects of State Governments.