Govt making determined efforts to develop rail connectivity border villages in Uttarakhand Baluni

New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) BJP MP Anil Baluni on Saturday cited the information provided by the government to Parliament to hail its efforts to boost rail connectivity in Uttarakhand and overall development of border villages in not only the state but across the country.
    Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told Lok Sabha that Rs 4,800 crore has been allocated for development projects in border villages in 19 districts of the country, including Baluni's Lok Sabha constituency Garhwal, in last three fiscal years, including 2025-26.
    It is under the government's "Vibrant Villages Programme".
    The budget allocated under the programme is Rs 6,839 crore from 2025-26 to 2028-29, Rai said in answer to Baluni's question.
    Besides, under the Border Area Development Programme, the government has provided over Rs 6634 crore, Baluni said.
    "Garhwal is one of the biggest beneficiary of the scheme. Road construction has picked up, so has mobile connectivity. Work is on to make it a tourist hub. My goal is to make Garhwal an ideal Lok Sabha constituency," he said, praising the efforts of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
    Garhwal is home to 12 such border villages.
    The efforts have made major changes in the border region of the entire state, Baluni added.
    Highlighting the overall thrust to boost development in the state, he said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that tunnelling of 199 km against total scope of 213 km has been completed in the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railline project.
    Vaishnaw said the 125-km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag project is a prestigious project of Indian Railways, which lies completely in the state of Uttarakhand and passes through difficult geological and challenging terrain of the Himalayas.
    "This project is aimed at transforming connectivity in Uttarakhand. The project alignment passes through Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Rudraprayag and Chamoli Districts of Uttarakhand and will provide rail connectivity to Devprayag and Karnaprayag religious and tourist spots with Rishikesh and the national capital ," he said.
    He added, "The alignment of the project predominantly passes through tunnels. The project involves the construction of 16 main line tunnels of 105 km length, 12 escape tunnels of about 98 km length and 10 km of adits/cross passages. So far, 13 main line tunnels and nine escape tunnels have been completed."
    Baluni said the rail project when completed will be a big boost to tourism and overall connectivity in the hilly state.
    The railway minister has said the government is open to expanding the project.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)