Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) released payments to the tune of Rs 1500 crore to contractors by the end of March, with an aim to ensure salaries for the workforce involved in laying rails for exclusive freight corridors.
“On average we make payment of about Rs 10,000 crore to contractors every year. But this time we did extra efforts to ensure that payments are being cleared by the end of March this year so that those workers involved in the project do not suffer,” said DFCCIL Managing Director Anurag Sachhan.
The DFCCIL project has suffered a setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic as its ongoing track laying work completely stopped resulting in pushing the completion deadline further. The DFCCIL was gearing up to open the 300 km long line between Badaun and Kanpur by March 31, which got postponed due to the lockdown.
Till now about 550 km long corridor from Khurja to Badaun and Rewari to Madar is operational for freight operation. Once the project is fully operational, the freight trains will run at a maximum speed of 100 kmph compared with an average speed of 27-30 kmph for on the existing rail network.