Rail connectivity, particularly in backward regions, is often held as a precondition for economic growth. There are many areas , mostly backward, not connected by rail. Large parts of the North-East, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir fall in this category. In Orissa, there are half a dozen districts without rail links. This is not surprising.

The bulk of railway network of over 60,000 km was constructed during the British rule. For whatever reasons, only a little over 10,000 km of new lines were laid since Independence. Orissa's share in new construction is a meagre 1,500 km or so. The situation is worse in several other regions.

The Railway Minister, while presenting the Budget for 2010-11, had promised to accelerate the pace of construction of lines at the rate of 1,000 km every year. At the end of the year, she now concedes that construction may be short of target by 250 to 300 km. After all, new constructions take time to complete.

Court order on Jaisu Shipping

The Ernakulam District Court has issued an interim injunction restraining Jaisu Shipping Company, the dredging contractor for Cochin Port Trust, from taking any of its vessels out of the port area.

The port authorities, with the help of the Indian Coast Guard, had seized a vessel belonging to the dredging contractor on Friday after it was taken out of the port area. Informed sources said that the dredger was being taken out without completing the dredging operations. Jaisu Shipping currently has four dredgers at Kochi, including one bucket dredger.

The dredging for both the shipping channel and the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) basin area remains incomplete. The shipping channel used by the Cochin Port Trust is also shared by the Indian Navy and the Cochin Shipyard.

Meanwhile, expressing concern at the failure of the port authorities to get the dredging works complete in the port area, the Cochin Port Employees Organisation alleged that the port management had failed to strictly enforce the contract agreement. Mr C. D. Nandakumar, General Secretary of the Association, said that the dredging operations would cost the port more than Rs 525 crore and that the contractor had not been able to produce satisfactory results so far. He alleged that the dredging should have been completed by January, 2010. It was obvious that the Port Trust could not provide the required depth of 14.5 m for the Vallarpadam terminal so far, he said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW