The Hindu Business Line : Parliament nod for commercial use of railway lands

PARLIAMENT has approved a legislation to set up the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) to commercially utilise the vacant railway lands across the country.

The Railway (Amendment) Bill 2004, which had earlier been cleared by the Lok Sabha, was unanimously passed by the Rajya Sabha on Monday with certain amendments after a brief discussion. Winding up the discussion, the Union Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, said that the authority proposed to use 43 lakh hectares of vacant land to generate additional income for providing better amenities and improving safety in the Railways.

He also made it clear that the Railways does not propose to sell surplus land, but only utilise it for commercial purposes.

Mr Prasad announced that the Railways would be beautifying railway stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

He said the Railways had already planted 75 lakh Jatropa saplings along the rail tracks for stepping up the production of bio-diesel and proposed to plant another 60 lakh this year.

The Minister said that some of the surplus land had been kept "unused," as it would be needed for railway expansion plans.

He also cited a proposal to construct a third railway track between Delhi- Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata exclusively for goods movement.

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