#Setu Bharatam programmes

[anika95sharma]

Costs slow down progress in construction of railway overbridges

The success of the Union government’s Setu Bharatam scheme rests on the timely construction of ROB/RUB (rail overbridges and underbridges), but official data reveals that only about a fourth of them have been awarded. Of the total 208 planned, only 24 ROBs are at various stages of completion, while work on RUBs is yet to begin.

These bridges are being executed under the Setu Bharatam scheme of the Union government, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2016.

The programme also includes construction of 208 level crossings (which do not fall under any other government scheme) at an estimated cost of Rs 208 billion.

The maximum number of ROBs would be constructed in Andhra Pradesh (31), followed by Bihar (21) and West Bengal (20).

According to an official presentation on Setu Bharatam, 43 ROBs were dropped from the list of planned bridges, while nine other ROBs were added as read more

[khabarsamay]

India's changing transport landscape

The progress of a country is closely linked to the efficiency with which it transports its man and material. A good transport system aids economic growth by providing essential connectivity between available resources, centres of production and the market.  It is also a vital factor in promoting balanced regional growth by ensuring the  delivery of goods and services to the last man in the remotest part of the country. Despite  having one of the most extensive transport networks in the world, India has, for long, been plagued by very slow and inefficient movement of passenger and freight.  The sector is faced with many challenges. The penetration of the transport network in remote areas and difficult terrains is inadequate. Highways are narrow, congested, and poorly maintained, leading to slow movement of traffic, valuable loss of time and a heavy burden of pollution. Accidents are rampant , leading to the loss of nearly 1.5 lakh lives every year. A very high percentage of the freight moves on roads even though it has been established that this is the costliest mode of transport, with the highest pollution burden. Rail transport is cheaper and more environment friendly than road transport, but the network is slow and inadequate,while the waterways which are the cheapest and most environment friendly of the three are grossly underdeveloped. The result of this unfavourable modal mix is high logistics costs that make our goods non competitive in the international market. This narrative has, however, started changing since the last three four years. The government has made it a major  priority to build a world class transport infrastructure in the country, that is cost effective, easily accessible to everyone, safe, creates minimum load of pollutants  and relies on indigenous inputs to the maximum possible extent. This has involved  strengthening the available infrastructure by leveraging world class technology, building new infrastructure and modernizing the legislative framework to support this work.  This has also involved partnering with the private sector and creating and nurturing an enabling environment for such partnership. National highways  constitute just two percent of the country’s road network but carry 40 percent of the traffic load. The government is working hard to augment this infrastructure both in terms of length and quality. Having started with about 96,000 km of national highways in 2014, we now have over 1.5 kms and soon hope to reach  2 lakh kms. The upcoming Bharatmala Programme will  link border and international connectivity roads, develop economic corridors,  inter corridors and feeder routes, improve connectivity of national corridors, build coastal and port connectivity roads, and greenfield expressways. This means that all areas of the country will have easy access to national highways. The North East region, naxal affected areas, backward and interior areas are being given special attention in terms of building road connectivity.  Bridges like the Dhola Sadia in Assam and state of the art tunnels like Chenani Nashri  in Jammu and Kashmir are coming up to shorten distances in  difficult terrains and make remote areas more easily accessible. High density traffic corridors like the Vadodara-Mumbai, Bangalore-Chennai and Delhi-Meerut routes can look forward to  world class, access controlled expressways, while travel to places of religious and tourist importance  like the Char Dham and the Buddhist Circuit will get faster and more convenient. Apart from adding kilometers, we are also committed to make the highways safe for travel.  For this, a multi-pronged approach has been adopted that includes incorporating safety features in road designs, rectifying known accident black spots, proper road signages, more effective legislation, improved vehicular safety standards, training of drivers, improved trauma care and enhanced public awareness. Under the Setu Bharatam programmes all railway level crossings are to be replaced with over bridges or under passes and an inventory with structural rating of all bridges on national highways  is being created so that timely repair or rebuilding actions can be undertaken. The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha, and awaits passing by Rajya Sabha.  The Bill addresses road safety issues by providing for stiffer penalties,  making fitness certification of vehicles and issue of drivers licenses transparent by computerizing it and minimizing human intervention, statutory provisions for protection of good Samaritans and recognition of IT enabled enforcement systems. The issue of reducing pollution is being addressed through a programme for replacement of old vehicles, adopting  BS-VI emission norms from 1stApril 2020, developing plantations along highways by involving the local participation and Electronic Toll Collection based on RFID tags called FASTags that will reduce waiting time at toll plazas.  The use of alternate fuel like Ethanol, Bio-CNG, Bio-Diesel, Methanol and electricity is being promoted and some of these are already running in some cities on an experimental basis. Looking at the cheaper and greener water transportation, efforts are underway to utilize the navigational  potential of India’s 7500 km long coastline and over 14,000 km of inland waterways through the Sagarmala programme and by declaring 111 waterways as National Waterways. Sagarmala envisages developing ports as engines of growth. The idea is to industrialize the port areas by developing 14 coastal economic zones. This would be supported by modernization  and augmentation of the port infrastructure, improving connectivity of ports with the hinterland through  road, rail and waterways, and development of the coastal community.   It is expected that besides saving Rs 35000-Rs 40,000 as logistics cost annually, boosting exports by about USD 110 billion  and generating one crore new jobs,  Sagarmala will also double the share of domestic waterways in the modal mix in the next ten years. In addition to the above, work is already in progress on several waterways including Ganga and Brahmaputra to develop their navigational potential.  The World Bank aided Jal Marg Vikas project on Ganga aims to develop the river stretch from Haldia to Allahabad to allow navigation of 1500-2000 tonne ships. Work on building multi modal terminals at Varanasi, Sahibganj and Haldia and other necessary infrastructure on this stretch is progressing rapidly.  With this, much of the cargo movement to the eastern and north eastern parts of the country can be done through waterways, resulting in lowering of the price of commodities. Thirty seven more waterways will be developed in the next three years . While the highways and waterways sectors are being modernized rapidly, work  is also underway for developing  an integrated transport system based on an optimal modal mix and seamless intermodal connectivity. In this context a Logistic Efficiency Enhancement Programme (LEEP) has been envisaged to enhance the efficiency of freight transportation in the country. This would include construction of fifty economic corridors,  upgrading feeder routes, developing thirty-five multimodal logistics parks with storage and warehousing facilities and  constructing ten inter-modal stations to integrate various transportation modes . The transport sector in India is definitely transforming rapidly, and is poised  to become  the biggest enabler for the country’s  growth. As this  revolution unfolds over the Indian landscape, we can not only hope to see the country developing faster,  but also see the  benefits of progress  embracing regions and people who are still out of its bounds today. (PIB)   Click to Post

[sarkariniti1-blog]

Setu Bharatam launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 4 March 2016 at a budget of ₹102 billion (US$1.5 billion), with an aim to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019 covers the construction of 208 rails over and under bridges (ROBs/RUBs) at unmanned railway crossings on national highways , widening of 1,500 dilapidated British-era bridges and rehabilitation or replacement in a phased manner at a cost of ₹208 billion and ₹300 billion respectively.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Setu Bharatam programme for building bridges for safe and seamless travel on National Highways, in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion he said that a good infrastructure network is vital for the growth and development of a nation. He said that in order to satisfy the aspirations and long felt needs of people it is necessary to bring in a qualitative change and a comprehensive, integrated approach to developing infrastructure in the country.

We need a quality change in the Indian Railways and the road traveling system in general. All this is possible under a major project compiling all changes in one and planning the aims and objectives such that the output is highly efficient. This project provides all of this and all it needs is a well-planned implementation. Grading and construction of bridges is a very important point adding to the perks of Setu Bharatam. Also, till date, India did not witness such developments in the travel industry especially railways. This step is huge in itself and has some very unique objectives discussed in this article.

Highlights

·         Modernization

·         Comfortable travel

·         Safe traveling system

·         Quality

·         Strong infrastructure

·         Construction of bridges

·         Grading of bridges

Budget

The detailed Project Reports have already been acknowledged for 73 Railway Over Bridges out of which 64 are likely to be sanctioned with an estimated cost of Rs. 5600 crore. More than 1500 old and worn down bridges will also be improved by replacement in a phased manner at a cost of about Rs. 30,000 crore

Aim

The Indian Bridge Management System has been introduced to map all 1,50,000 bridges in the countrySetu Bharatam programme aims to make all National Highways free of railway level crossings by 2019. This is being done to prevent the frequent accidents and loss of lives at level crossings. 208 ROBs will be constructed at the level crossings with the budget of Rs. 20,800 crore under the programme.

The details of 208 Railway Over Bridges are as follows:

·         Andhra Pradesh – 33,

·         Assam – 12,

·         Bihar – 20,

·         Chhattisgarh – 5,

·         Gujarat – 8,

·         Haryana – 10,

·         Himachal Pradesh – 5,

·         Jharkhand – 11,

·         Karnataka – 17,

·         Kerala – 4,

·         Madhya Pradesh -6,

·         Maharashtra – 12,

·         Odisha – 4,

·         Punjab – 10,

·         Rajasthan – 9,

·         Tamil Nadu – 9,

·         Uttarakhandd – 2,

·         Uttar Pradesh – 9,

·         West Bengal – 22

What is IBMS

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has also established an Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS) at the Indian Academy for Highway Engineer in Noida, U.P.

Aim of IBMS

The aim of Setu Bharatam is to carry out conditions survey and invention of all bridges on National Highways in India by using Mobile Inspection Units. 11 consultancy firms have been appointed for this purpose. Till now invention of 50,000 bridges has been done. The first cycle of the survey was expected to be completed by June 2016. This data base is the largest of its kind and also helps in smoothening the movement of Over-Dimension and Over-Weight consignments on National Highways. It will play a considerable role in easing traffic issues in India and also create a map of all bridges in the country.

Objectives

·         The main objective of The Setu Bharatam Project, launched on 4 March 2016 by Narendra Modi, is to make all the national highways in India free from railway crossings by the year 2019 and has been working for the same since the launch.

·         Bridges are supposed to be constructed all across India so that vehicles plying on the national highways do not get stopped because of railway tracks.

·         Around two hundred eight new bridges (under and over railway tracks) will be built and this construction will make the use of Rs 100 crore of the budget set by the government.

·         The government is focusing in a big way on developing roads in the rural hinterlands of India.

·         Already in the 2016-17 union budgets, INR 19,000 crore has been allocated for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Nitin Gadkari who is the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister stated that work for building the bridges has already started.

·         The government has received project reports – in detail – for 73 bridges.

·         It was also expected that 64 other bridges will receive the green signal of the government by the end of 2016 .

·         It is expected that the aggregate cost of construction at this stage would be in the region of INR 5600 crore.

·         Bridges in India are being graded – a significant step indeed. For this, space technology is being used along with information such as age, distance end to end, longitude, material , design and latitude.

·         Railways cannot function on such grounds – it needed concrete development by focusing on the way of building rail gauges and lines.

·         Administration has brought a fresh look in the railway sector and changed the ways in which the sector could be developed even further.

India needs major developments in the railway sector in the same way as mentioned in these objectives. If the plan goes as per these steps, we’llget to see a developed railway industry soon.

Conclusion

Veins give strength to our body. Similarly, infrastructure will provide speed, power, and strength to the development of the country. There will be progress if we focus on building road and railway network, optical fibre network, water, grid, and electricity connectivity along with electricity supply and the government is working in that direction.

“Earlier, the trains were announced in Parliament to please some Members of the Parliament and get applause. Many schemes were lying dormant. Railways won’t run only by applause. It requires significant development. We decided to develop rail lines and gauges. We have changed the way railway sector is looked at and how change can be brought about in that sector,” Mr. Modi said. According to the Prime Minister, nobody was paying attention to the development work initiated by the government in the Indian Railways. We hope this government to work the way stated above producing development in the railway industry . Infrastructure is an important issue and needs major attention. The Prime Minister has developed many areas of the railway industry and we expect this to be continued giving us modernized scenario.

 https://sarkariniti.com/setu-bharatam-programme/