Jaipur, March 5 (IANS) Rajasthan Chief Secretary V. Srinivas and his Haryana counterpart Anurag Rastogi held a video conference on Thursday to review issues related to the Namo Bharat Rail Corridor project.

The meeting was held at the Government Secretariat and focused on financial and implementation aspects of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor.

During the meeting, Srinivas informed that the Rajasthan government has decided to bear the financial burden for the first phase of the RRTS project as per the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR).

Following the revision, 1.13 km of the total 105.20 km corridor will fall within Rajasthan. As a result, the state’s share of the project cost will increase from Rs 103 crore to Rs 124.26 crore.

However, he pointed out that the Haryana government’s decision to bear the project cost only up to Bawal would place an additional financial burden of around Rs 510 crore on Rajasthan.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the participating states were required to bear 20 per cent of their respective shares of the project cost.

Sources said the Rajasthan Chief Secretary requested the Haryana government to reconsider its decision.

The Haryana Chief Secretary assured that the matter would be reviewed and that a decision would be communicated soon.

Officials also highlighted that the corridor will provide high-speed rail connectivity between Delhi, Gurugram and key industrial areas such as Shahjahanpur, Ghiloth, Neemrana and Behror, along with the proposed KBNIR township.

The project is expected to significantly boost economic development and improve transport connectivity in the region. All sections of the society are set to benefit from the project.

Additional Chief Secretary (Industries and Commerce) Shikhar Agarwal, Principal Secretary (Finance) Vaibhav Galaria, Principal Secretary (Urban Development) Devashish Prishti, RIICO Managing Director Shivangi Swarnkar, Executive Director Akash Tomar and senior RIICO official Ajay Gupta were also present during the meeting.

–IANS

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