Project to put Sikkim on railway map halts - Absence of gram sabhas in GTA delays construction of Sevoke-Rangpo train route

AVIJIT SINHAADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VIVEK CHHETRI AND NIRMAL MANGAR, TT, Siliguri, Oct. 6: A project to lay railway lines to connect Rangpo in Sikkim with Sevoke near here has come to a halt because of the absence of gram sabhas in GTA area that need to issue no-objection certificates for the tribal affairs ministry to give its nod.

The foundation of the Rs 1339.48 crore project to build the 45km-long rail line connecting Bengal with Sikkim was laid on October 30, 2009.

In the absence of gram sabhas, a panel of villagers to advise the local panchayats, the Darjeeling magistrate had issued a no-objection certificate in December 2014 but the ministry had not accepted it.

"In Bengal, we need around 77.77 hectare of forest land. According to the Forest Rights Act, 2006, it is necessary to obtain a no-objection certificate from gram sabhas of all villages through which the track would pass as forest land would be put to other use. The Union tribal affairs ministry had sought the NOC," an official of Northeast Frontier Railway told The Telegraph over phone from Maligaon in Assam.

"As there are no gram sabhas in the Darjeeling hills, the district magistrate of Darjeeling had sent the NOC. But the officials at the ministry have not accepted it. This has led to the impasse as unless the Union ministry of tribal affairs clears the proposal, we cannot go ahead," the official added.

Once the ministry gives its nod, the land acquisition process for the project can start.

"In April this year, the chief secretary of Bengal had said that in the absence of elected bodies at the village level in the hilly areas, it was not possible to obtain NOC. Officials of the Union ministry of environment and forests have said they would take up the issue with the tribal affairs ministry," a railway official said.

"We are waiting for the NOC as around 28.58km of the tracks would be laid on the 77.77 hectare stretch," he said.

The last hill rural polls were held in 2000 and the terms of the elected bodies expired in 2005. In the absence of a panchayat, no gram sabha was formed that could advice it.

When the GTA agreement was signed in 2011, it was agreed that the three-tier panchayat system would be revived, for which, a constitutional amendment was needed. But there hasn't been much progress on the issue.

The exact number of villages that need to issue NOC for the project was not available.

Of the total track length, 41.54km would be in Bengal and the rest in Sikkim and it will pass through 13 tunnels and 10 bridges. Some of the proposed stations are Riang, Geilkhola, Teesta Bazaar, Melli.

The railway official said acquisition was in progress for the rest of the land. "Of the total requirement of 98.94 acre, only 2.77 hectare is private land and it needs to be acquired. The remaining 18.40 hectare (other than the 77.77 hectare for which is NOC is needed), is government land. While around 8.49 hectare of that land is owned by the state forest department in Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, for which we are waiting for approval from the Supreme Court after clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests, 10 acre is government land with cinchona plantation," he said.

Asked about the delay, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders said they had been demanding the three-tier panchayat system. "We have mentioned the issue many times during bipartite and tripartite talks. We want the three-tier system in the GTA area," Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said.

Sources said, in Sikkim, a part of compensation to the forest department for acquisition had been sanctioned.

IRCON, the construction company which will carry out the project, has deposited around Rs 50 crore with Sikkim government for acquisition of 14.76 hectare of private land.

Senior officials of Sikkim government said the process of acquisition was on.

"The collector of east district has been assigned with the responsibility of taking up the process of acquisition. We are working on environmental clearance and other issues and we are in regular touch with railway officials," said S.B.S. Bhaduria, principal secretary of the state transport department of Sikkim.