Archive · 10 Oct 2026
Madhya Pradesh Sets Up Committees to Speed Railway Clearances
Madhya Pradesh has created four groups to help railway projects move forward faster.
Each group will work at a different level of government.
Chief Secretary Ashok Barnwal will lead the state-level group.
Other groups will be led by district collectors, divisional commissioners and the Public Works Department’s principal secretary.
They will meet at different intervals, from every month to every six months.
The groups will review problems holding up railway projects.
These problems can include getting land, moving utilities and obtaining forest approvals.
Their goal is to find solutions within set time limits.
Madhya Pradesh has formed railway project coordination committees at four administrative levels.
Chief Secretary Ashok Barnwal will lead the state-level committee, which will meet every six months or as needed.
District committees, headed by collectors, will meet monthly; division committees, led by divisional commissioners, will meet every two months.
A committee chaired by the principal secretary of the Public Works Department will meet every three months.
The committees will review pending cases and seek time-bound solutions for land acquisition, utility shifting, forest approvals, rehabilitation and other project issues.
- Who
- The Madhya Pradesh government; Chief Secretary Ashok Barnwal will head the state-level committee.
- What
- Four levels of coordination committees have been formed to address issues delaying railway projects.
- When
- The committees will meet monthly, every two months, every three months, and every six months or as needed, depending on level.
- Where
- Madhya Pradesh, India.
- Why
- To coordinate and resolve pending issues, including land acquisition, utility shifting, forest approvals and rehabilitation, for railway projects.
Government coordination approach
Project implementation challenges
Speeding up railway projects
Government coordination approach
The state government says the committees will improve coordination and ensure time-bound solutions to pending matters.
Project implementation challenges
The report identifies issues such as land acquisition, utility shifting, forest approvals, legal arrangements and rehabilitation as matters that require resolution; it does not quote critics or opposing stakeholders.
- State-level chair
- Chief Secretary Ashok Barnwal
- State-level meeting frequency
- Every six months, or as needed
- District-level meeting frequency
- Monthly
- Division-level meeting frequency
- Every two months
- Principal secretary-level meeting frequency
- Every three months
- Projects covered
- New railway lines, multi-tracking, railway overbridges and other railway projects
- Issues addressed
- Land acquisition, utility shifting, forest sanction, legal arrangements and rehabilitation