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Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday that the 63-km Bhanupalli–Bilaspur–Beri rail line project in Himachal Pradesh has been approved. The project is being carried out with cost-sharing between the Central and state governments. So far, 80.31 hectares of the total 123.16 hectares of required land have been acquired.

 

In a written reply, the minister told the Rajya Sabha that the Himachal government set up a new committee in June 2025 after locals raised fresh concerns. This came after the first committee looked into complaints about houses developing cracks due to tunnelling work for the Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri rail project.

 

"The works on available land have been taken up. So far, an expenditure of ₹5,251.81 crore has been incurred on this project. ₹1,789.56 crore is outstanding with the Government of Himachal Pradesh. The progress of this project is affected due to non–fulfillment of commitments by the State Government of Himachal Pradesh," he added.

 

"Some of the inhabitants of the area near the tunnel No. 17 of the Bhanupali–Bilaspur–Beri rail project have raised the issue of cracks in their houses. The state administration had constituted a committee to examine the issue," he further added.

 

The minister said the committee’s report noted that some existing cracks in houses had widened, but the exact cause was unclear since no blasting was done during the tunnelling work. Still, on the committee’s recommendation, the damaged houses were repaired using modern techniques to help the affected families.

 

In June 2025, the state government formed another committee after fresh requests from locals. This new committee includes an independent engineer from IIT, an expert from NIT, and a geologist from the state Geology Department to study the issue further.

 

Answering questions about station redevelopment, Vaishnaw said four stations in Himachal Pradesh have been chosen for upgrades under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. These are Baijnath Paprola, Amb Andaura, Palampur Himachal, and Shimla.