Begusarai, 18 September (HS). Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh has written a letter to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav requesting the implementation of the Barauni-Hassanpur rail project which has been pending for five decades. For this, BJP District General Secretary Kundan Bharti had written a letter demanding Giriraj Singh.
It has been said in the letter that Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra had dreamed of this project 50 years ago for the 45 kilometer long Barauni-Hassanpur railway line. In 2002, Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan announced this rail project. Many Railway Ministers of the Government of India were interested in this project. Barauni-Hassanpur rail project got a place in the railway budget in 2012-13, the tender for survey was also issued in 2013-14.
The rail project was proposed keeping in mind the conservation of Asia’s famous Kabar Lake. Due to which the tourism sector will get a boost. It is noteworthy that Lalit Narayan Mishra, who became the Railway Minister in the 1970s, had dreamed of building a rail line from Barauni to Hasanpur via Jaimangalagarh. When Lalit Narayan Mishra became the Railway Minister in 1973, he sent a proposal to lay a railway line from Barauni to Hasanpur to the Railway Ministry and the Central Government.
But after his assassination on January 3, 1975, the project went on hold. For this, Dr. Bhola Singh and Ramjeevan Singh raised questions several times in the Parliament. After this, the buzz started in the Barauni-Hassanpur project and in the Railway Budget of 2012-13, the tender for the survey of this railway section was passed and in between, it kept going through many storms. Rajya Sabha member Prof. in 2020. When Rakesh Sinha raised the question in the House, the survey work was expedited and the report was completed and sent.
Last March also, Giriraj Singh had met the Railway Minister on this issue. When MP Mehboob Ali raised the matter in the Railway Parliamentary Committee meeting held in Samastipur in 2022, the Railways gave a written reply that this work is pending due to lack of funds. In such a situation, people were disappointed, but with Giriraj Singh taking the initiative once again, there is hope that the initiative will be taken.
According to the survey, it is estimated that about Rs 1470 crore will be spent on this 45.38 kilometer railway project. There is a plan to build railway stations at Gauda, Teyya, Bhagwanpur Dahiya, Cheriya Bariyarpur, Jaimangala Garh and Garhpura between Barauni Junction and Hasanpur Junction and halt at Manjhaul. There will not be a single kiosk on the proposed railway section and instead of five big bridges, 38 small bridges and railway kiosks, 20 subways and two road over bridges (ROBs) will be constructed.
The height of the subway will be seven meters, so that vehicles can move easily. Whereas two rail over bridges are proposed to be built on National Highway-28 and State Highway-55. The proposed railway line was earlier supposed to pass through Kabar Lake. But in view of the interference caused by railway operations in the chirping of domestic and foreign birds coming to Kabar Lake and the international recognition of Ramsar site, now the railway line will be taken from the eastern side of Begusarai-Manjhaul-Hassanpur road, about three kilometers away from the lake. Will be visited.
Rajiv Kumar and Mukesh Vikram, associated with Rail Yatri Sangharsh Samiti, say that on one hand, the construction of this railway line will give impetus to the tourism of Kabar Lake Bird Sanctuary, the only Ramsar site of Bihar, at the national level. On the other hand, many states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal will have rail connectivity with neighboring country Nepal.