New Delhi

An official stated on Friday that the railway line expansion project of the Kharsia-Parmalkasa section of the Mumbai-Howrah trunk route in Chhattisgarh has been assessed by the Center’s Network Planning Group (NPG) for its compliance with the integrated planning principles delineated in the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan.

The addition of a new 277.917 km double line will significantly improve the section. According to the statement, this project will improve transportation and operational efficiency by expanding capacity from Kharsia Junction (Bilaspur-Jharsuguda section) to Parmalkasa (Durg-Nagpur section), with a connection to Naya Raipur at 186.65 km from Kharsia.

The main objective is to relieve extreme congestion on the current lines, where over 100% of the available capacity is being used.

With anticipated increases in the traffic of coal, iron, food grains, fertilizers, and cement from surrounding areas, the new line is essential for relieving current capacity restrictions and facilitating future traffic growth.

It further stated that the project’s support for eight passenger trains and 19–27 freight trains underscores its strategic significance for the area’s transportation network.

Rajeev Singh Thakur, Additional Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), called the meeting to order here.

The minister mentioned the Ludhiana-based company that engaged in similar manipulation of gold transactions, stating that false invoices totaling Rs 424 crore were used in the gold sale and purchase.

According to him, the registration of the two businesses from whom the company had demonstrated gold transactions had also been canceled in this instance. Furthermore, there was no record of these firms buying any gold.