Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail project: Dumped by British, ignored by Congress and Modi government's grit to complete

During his tour of the hills in 1938, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was deeply shocked by the inadequate road connectivity in Garhwal. He expressed profound pain over the halted Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail line project that had been initiated during the British Raj. The survey for this rail line, intended to alleviate traffic for pilgrims visiting Badrinath and Kedarnath, had taken place back in 1927. After enduring significant obstacles for more than eight decades, with negligible progress witnessed during Nehru’s tenure and subsequent Congress rule, the Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail line project has experienced a remarkable surge under the current Modi government regime. In an ambitious endeavour by the BJP government to establish connectivity between the revered Hindu pilgrimage sites nestled in the Indian Himalayas, approximately 50 per cent of the project has now been accomplished. During his five-day sojourn in Garhwal in 1938, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru lamented the deplorable state of the road and rail network, expressing his bewilderment at the prolonged delays in their construction. “Why has this road making been delayed so long in Garhwal? It was expensive, of course but equally expensive roads have been made all over India in mountainous regions. During the period of the World War the people of Garhwal were soothed by promises of a railway and a survey at the cost of many Lakhs of rupees was actually made. But neither the railway nor a road materialized,” Nehru wrote about his tour to Garhwal hills in his 1941 published book The Unity of India. [caption id=“attachment_12622502” align=“alignnone” width=“300”] An archival photograph of Lady Willingdon with Victoria Cross awardee Darwan Singh Negi at Gauchar. Photo courtesy Late Udey Singh Chandel ‘Kaka’ collection
[/caption] The World War promise, mentioned by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, is related to the brave Garhwal Rifles soldier Darwan Singh Negi, who was awarded the prestigious Victoria Cross for his courage in the First World War. Historian Bhuwan Nautiyal says, “When King George V presented Darwan Negi the Victoria Cross, the Garhwal Rifles soldier made a special request to build a school at Karanprayag and to connect Karanprayag with a rail line.” In response to Darwan Negi’s request, the survey for the rail line commenced in 1927. However, the first phase encountered delays due to the late approval of route alignment and the omission of compensating for the acquired land intended for the project. Despite the survey’s completion in 1927, the project was abruptly abandoned, leaving the aspirations of a railway connection unfulfilled. The issue even figured in the Council of State, the upper house of the legislature, during British rule. Jagadish Chandra Banerjee (on behalf of Rai Bahadur Lala Jagdish Prasad) asked the question about the Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail line in the Council of State in 1933. Replying to the query, Guthrie Russell said, “A survey of a line of railway from Haridwar to Karanprayag on the way to Badrinath was carried out a few years back but the result showed that the project could not be justified as a business proposition. The project has therefore been dropped.” [caption id=“attachment_12622482” align=“alignnone” width=“300”] Work underway at Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail line project. Image procured by Raju Gusain[/caption] After the first survey in 1927, the hope of highlanders to get a rail line in the hills was shattered by different governments. Major General (Retd.) BC Khanduri began raising the issue in Lok Sabha regularly in the 90s. On his query in 1992, Minister of State for Railways Dr Mallikarjun replied in the house, “The cost of construction of railway lines in mountainous terrain is prohibitive. The Railways are facing an acute constraint of resources. Consideration of any proposal for such lines will have to wait till resource position improves." After remaining ignored for seven decades, the United Front government, headed by HD Deve Gowda and supported by the Congress, restarted the survey of the rail line in 1997. Satpal Maharaj, Pauri MP and MoS Railways at that time, vigorously advocated for the age-old stalled rail line project. But, after initial work little happened on the ground. Even for the survey a sum of Rs 10 lakh was sanctioned during the HD Deve Gowda government. In 2010-11 the project was sanctioned in the rail budget. Again it was survey time. With the Lok Sabha 2014 elections approaching, the UPA attempted to woo the hill people by playing the Rishikesh-Karanprayag card another time. Union Minister for Railways Dinesh Trivedi and Union Minister for Defence AK Antony even laid the foundation stone for the Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail project in Chamoli on 9 November 2011. The project started moving at snail’s speed and Defence Minister AK Antony in a written reply in Lok Sabha on 11 March 2013 declared the survey of the strategic railway line between Rishikesh to have been completed. The survey was completed but the groundwork was yet to start. In 2014, the Modi government was voted to power and the new government made serious efforts to implement the rail project connecting the Garhwal hills. The alignment, land acquisition and forest clearance were done and presently work on the 125-kilometre, electrified BG line, is going on at a war footing. The target is to complete the project by 2024 end. Once fully operational, the Rishikesh-Karaprayag rail line will help in easing tourism pressure at Badrinath and Kedarnath, contribute to the development of backward areas, prevent migration from hills to plains and improve connectivity for security troops to the international border. [caption id=“attachment_12622522” align=“alignnone” width=“300”] A painting on display at RVNL office in Rishikesh. Image courtesy Raju Gusain
[/caption] The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), a public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Railways, is executing the project. RVNL’s Chief Project Manager Ajit Singh Yadav says, “About 50% of the work of the project is over. A total of 213 km of tunneling-104 km main tunnel, escape tunnel 97.5 km, Adit 4.5 km and cross passage 7 km- will be done for the rail project. Of which we have completed over 104 km of tunnelling. The current rate is 6 km of tunnelling per month.” The COVID-19 pandemic harmed the project and slowed down the construction work. Besides this, the progress was hampered due to soft and fractured geological masses comprising shared zones and falls. By adopting innovative solutions and advanced machinery, RVNL aims at completing the project on time. Nehru was accompanied by his sister Vijay Lakshmi Pandit and Raja Hutheesing (husband of Krishna Nehru) during his Garhwal Hills journey in 1938. They travelled by aeroplane, car, on horseback and walked to tour Gochar, Devprayag, Srinagar and Pauri. On the pilgrimage, Nehru wrote, “The aeroplane took us all the way to Badrinath and Kedarnath, and we had a near view of the snowy peaks which dominate these ancient places of pilgrimages. We could not land there and had to come back some way to Gochar where we landed.” In the 1930s, the Himalayan Air Transport and Survey Company used to operate an air service between Haridwar to Gochar. The air service was popular among the pilgrims. A three-engine machine, carrying 10 passengers with English pilots and engineers, became the talk of the hill area at that time. Ninety per cent of the school children, while interacting with Nehru, disclosed never seeing a train, car and carriage, but had seen an aeroplane. During the starting days of the air service, Lady Willingdon took the flight to Gauchar in 1936 and Victoria Cross decorated Darwan Singh Negi was there to welcome the high-profile guest. The dream of Darwan Singh Negi is materialising and Karanprayag will soon get connected with a rail line. Out of a sanctioned cost of Rs 16,216 crore, the RVNL has already spent over Rs 10,000 crore on the project so far. The construction of bridges and tunnels is presently underway. The proposed railway line will connect important towns like Devprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Gauchar and Karnaprayag. The journey from Rishikesh to Karanprayag will be completed in two and a half hours. Providing new experiences and comfort to visitors and passing through 12 railway stations, the 125-kilometre rail project is all set to become a game-changer for Uttarakhand. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.