Cabinet refers Rs 66k-cr rail freight corridor project to GoM

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday referred the proposal for the Rs 66,000-crore railway project to build dedicated freight corridors between Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata to a Group of Ministers (GoM).

“The matter has been referred to a Group of Ministers which will be constituted soon,” information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said after a meeting of the Union Cabinet.

The proposal for four corridors between Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Chennai and Kolkata-Chennai was mooted by railway minister Lalu Prasad. The project with an estimated cost of Rs 66,000 crore is expected to decongest the overloaded freight traffic to provide faster movement of goods trains through a separate set of tracks.

The Cabinet also referred to GoM, the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill to enable foreign universities to set up campuses in India. The legislation is aimed to enable foreign universities award degrees in India and to provide them the status of deemed universities under the UGC Act, provided they fulfil the necessary conditions.

The CCEA approved an additional one time contribution of Rs 65 crore to the initial Rs 200 crore corpus of Public Health Foundation of India. The nod was also given for changes in the restructured scheme for development and strengthening of infrastructure for production and distribution of quality seeds and ‘inter component’ changes within the 10th Plan outlay.

It put its seal of approval on the 100% compulsory packing of foodgrains and sugar in jute bags for Jute Year ’06-07(July-June). The execution of Rs 1657.60 crore including interest cost of Rs 81.64 crore for Tehri Pumped Storage Plant passed the CCEA test, too.