Dehra Dun: Ahead of the Assembly election in Uttarakhand, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will lay the foundation stone of Rs 5,000 crore Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail
project, a cherished desire of the people of backward Garhwal region, on November nine.
On the same day, the hill state, which will go to polls in February next year, will also celebrate its formation day.
The security has been beefed up at Gauchar with the arrival of SPG commandos in the area.
The project which is expected to be completed in 5 years would finally connect the backward Garhwal region with the rest of the country through a rail link which would shorten the arduous 8-hour road journey between the holy city of Rishikesh and Karanprayag to just 4 hours.
Former union railway minister and Congress MP from Pauri Garhwal Satpal Maharaj said he had requested Gandhi to come to Uttarakhand for the rail project which would become an engine of growth for the region.
Chief Minister BC Khanduri, however, had said it would have been better had the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh been invited for the function.
The 125-km-long Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line was sanctioned by the Railway ministry in 2010 and a sum of Rs 4,295 crore had already been earmarked for it, officials said.
The project, which was earlier entrusted to the engineering wing of the Northern Railways, would now be undertaken by the Railways Vikas Nigam.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, November 06, 2011, 18:05