The government on Tuesday approved several railway projects, including a 130 km-long Jeypore-Malkangiri project at a cost of Rs. 2,676 crore and another 425 km-long Jhansi-Manikpur and Bhimsen-Khairar line doubling-cum-electrification projects costing Rs. 4,956 crore.

The Jeypore-Malkangiri new line project, likely to be completed by 2021-22, will cover the left wing extremism (LWE) affected districts of Koraput and Malkangiri of Odisha, an official statement said.

Leg-up for Malkangiri

At present, Malkangiri has no rail connectivity. The new line will provide infrastructure support for overall development and help combat left wing extremism, the statement said.

The Jhansi-Manikpur and Bhimsen-Khairar projects are likely to be completed by 2022-23. The projects will cover the districts of Jhansi, Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakut Dham in Uttar Pradesh and Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) also approved 116.95 km-long Bhatni-Aurnihar line doubling-cum-electrification at a cost of Rs. 1,300.9 crore. Likely to be completed by 2021-22, it will cover the districts of Deoria, Ballia, Mau and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

The CCEA also gave its approval to the construction of 4.5 km-long two-lane bi-directional Silkyara Bend-Barkot Tunnel as part of ‘Chardham Mahamarg Pariyojana’. The construction period of the project is four years.