The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra will become more accessible to tourists after the Ministry of Railways approved eight new projects worth INR 24,657 crore. The aim is to improve connectivity and mobility, generate employment in seven states, and reduce oil imports and carbon dioxide emissions.
The projects will cover 14 districts in Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana and West Bengal, and increase the existing network of the Indian Railways by 900km. India’s longest transport tunnel stretching 23.5 km will be built as part of the project.
The Ajanta Caves are located in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district—earlier known as Aurangabad—in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. The Ministry of Railways and the Maharashtra government are jointly working on a proposed rail line that will extend 174km from Jalna to Jalgaon. It will be developed at a cost of 7,106 crore with equal contributions from the state government and railway department.
The project is expected to generate 60 lakh employment days and reduce CO2 emissions by 54 crore per kilogram, the equivalent of planting 2.2 crore trees. According to the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the ambitious initiative aims to enhance connectivity between the Marathwada region, North Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and the coastal areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The new line will cut the travel distance between Jalna and Jalgaon by nearly 50 per cent. The project will require the acquisition of 935 hectares of land and the rail line is expected to be completed within four to five years. The project is also expected to facilitate the transportation of agricultural products like soybeans and cotton, and support industries such as fertiliser and cement.
(With inputs from multiple news sources)