By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, FEB 16, 2021: THE Minister of Railways, Mr Piyush Goyal, on Monday reviewed the progress of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation India Limited (DFCCIL)'s current projects, the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC).

Mr Goyal directed the DFFCIL management team and the contractors to take all possible steps to speed up the pace of works on the Western DFC spanning 1,504 km and Eastern DFC with 1,856-km route. The progress of each individual section was discussed in detail, said the Rail Ministry.

“During the meeting, it was decided that strict monitoring of work of all contractors to be done. Resolution of all issues, including coordination with the States to be done on a Mission mode,” said an official statement.

Relentless monitoring will lead to the resolution of issues which used to delay other projects in the past, it added.

The Eastern corridor starts from Sahnewal near Ludhiana, Punjab and terminates at Dankuni in West Bengal. The Western corridor connects Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai, Maharashtra. A 2,800km route of both DFCs is expected to be commissioned by June, 2022.

The utilisation of capital expenditure in DFC increased 21 per cent year-on-year to Rs. 8,201 crore spent in the first 10 months of the financial year 2020-21, compared to Rs. 6,783 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Mr Goyal also laid the foundation stone for the construction of three road over bridges in the Mysore division in South Western Railways on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the bridges would make businesses easy and the lives of the people more convenient, saving time and improving safety as they eliminate the existing level crossings.