Prayer hubs derail terminal plans
DEADLOCK Mosques and temples on land meant for multimodal terminal; ministry considering tweaks in project NEW DELHI:
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 next year’s parliamentary polls. Senior railway official
On some of the land there are mosques and temples... So I don’t think the project will be able to go forward
The proposed terminal at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency is part of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP, a ~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 Indian Railways which leased it out to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for construction of a bus and a rail- way 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 ~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. 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. “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. Multiple officials from the centre tried to resolve this. Even the state government had to intervene,” 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 multi-modal terminal at Varanasi in August, 2016. The ministry is now considering changing its plans for the terminal.“There are many land related issues in this project. Then there are issues with some religious structures. So we are looking at whether it is feasible to overcome this or to adjust the entire layout of the multi-modal hub, “the road ministry official said.
Under JMVP, three multimodal 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.