2,574 km new lines commissioned in four years three months: Gohain
New Delhi, Aug 10 : The government on Friday said that 2,574 km of new rail lines have been commissioned from 2014 to June 2018.
"The Railways has commissioned 2,574 Km of new lines from 2014 till June 30, 2018 i.e. in four years and three months," Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
He said the railways commissioned 439 km of new line in Jharkhand, 240 km in Karnataka, 235 km in Madhya Pradesh, 262 km in Uttar Pradesh, 229 km in Bihar and 221 km in Andhra Pradesh.
The Minister further said that in northeastern region, the railways have commissioned 178 km of new line, followed by 186 km in Telangana, 160 km in Haryana, 118 km in Odisha, 86 km in West Bengal and 73 km in Rajasthan.
New lines were also commissioned in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Punjab.
"As on date, 180 new line projects costing Rs 3,56,120.17 crore for 19644.8 km are in different stages of planning or approval or execution," Gohain added.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
