HP yet to deposit ₹178 cr for Chandigarh-Baddi rail link, Rajya Sabha told

Himachal Pradesh government is yet to deposit ₹178.95 crore for 33-km Chandigarh-Baddi rail link project, Union railways minister informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Friday.

The ministry shared the information while responding to a question raised by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Indu Bala Goswami regarding proportion of the cost to be shared by the Centre and the state government for the Chandigarh-Baddi railway line.

The ₹1,540-crore rail link, expected to be completed by June 2025, will connect Chandigarh to Baddi, an industrial hub in Himachal’s Solan district.

The project was sanctioned on a 50:50 cost-sharing between state government and the Union railways ministry. The state government was to deposit ₹483.95 crore and as per information available, it has only paid ₹305 crore so far.

“The Union government is geared up to execute projects but the success depends on the support of Himachal government of,” said the railways ministry in its reply. The ministry added that an expenditure of ₹967.9 crore was incurred till February 2025. “The Chandigarh–Baddi rail line passes through the Chandimandir station and the work of augmentation in number of lines at Chandimandir station from three lines to five lines has been taken up,” the reply added, delving into the provisions made for laying a separate loop line at Chandimandir for trains going from Chandigarh to Baddi-Barotiwala, industrial hub. The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt is the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in Asia.

At least seven lakh people employed with medical units have been waiting for the railway project since the industries started setting up here in the early 2000s. The hub houses around 350 cosmetics and drug formulation units that have an estimated annual turnover of ₹30,000 crore.

Sanctioned in 2007-08, the rail link had run into land acquisition troubles and railways on June 20, 2019, accorded it status of ‘Special Railway Project’ under the Railway Act, 2008.