Mumbai: Critical lapses in planning, non-compliance with Railway Board (RB) guidelines, and delay in land acquisition pushed the completion of a major Mumbai railway project from March 2021 to March 2024, with only 26% of the work completed despite spending Rs 500.9 crore, an audit revealed.
The Comptroller and Auditor General‘s Audit Report on Union Govt (Railways) was presented in Parliament on April 3. The project, aimed at enhancing railway infrastructure, has been plagued by multiple issues, including an improper detailed estimate prepared by Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), which ignored RB’s 2008 instructions to limit housing provisions to functional requirements and justify estimates fully. This led to delays in sanctioning by the RB, stalling progress.
Further compounding the delays, the Baseline Socio-Economic (BSE) survey for Phase I, initiated in Sept 2012, remains incomplete even after over 11 years. MMRDA also failed to rehabilitate project-affected persons (PAPs) by Jan 2024, as housing units at Kilburn and Nahur are still under construction, hindering land possession.
The audit stated non-adherence to RB’s guidelines on minimal land acquisition resulted in excess land assessment during the detailed estimate stage. Poor coordination between RITES and state govt agencies further delayed the BSE survey and land acquisition. The land acquisition process for Phase II, from Parel to CSMT, remains in its initial stages.
The audit noted that contracts awarded without approved designs, clear sites, or proper planning led to additional setbacks. Audit reports highlighted idling of electrical and signal and telecommunications materials due to premature contract awards. Coordination issues between zonal railways also surfaced, with a land transfer proposal from Western Railway to Central Railway, initiated in Dec 2015, was pending as of Jan 2024.