Hope for a new and shorter rail route from Chhapra to Muzaffarpur has brightened with the railways sanctioning Rs.5 crore for land acquisition purposes. Distance from Chhapra to Muzaffarpur through the existing rail route is about 120 km, but if this new project is commissioned the distance will be reduced to about 78 km only, connecting several villages.
This new rail route was announced about seven years ago when the then Chhapra RJD MP Lalu Prasad was railway minister. Acquisition of land had been initiated at that time and out of 47 villages, land of about 22 villages had been acquired. But after his tenure, the project failed to take off.
Saran land acquisition officer Kaushlendra Singh said, “A demand for Rs 35 crore was placed for land acquisition in the remaining villages, but the railways sanctioned only Rs 5 crore. With this amount, land of only two villages-Bishnupura and Sherpur villages-under Sadar block, would be acquired.” Deputy chief engineer of East Central Railway (ECR) has also suggested acquisition of 18.87 acre of land at Bishnupura village and 3.85 acres of land at Sherpur village.
The new rail route is likely to pass through Sherpur, Bishnupura, Garkha, Bheldi, Rewadih in Saran district and Bakhra, Saraiya etc in Muzaffarpur district. Locals, particularly students, teachers and employees of J P University, Chhapra, are hopeful that after completion of the project, the newly-constructed Chhapra gramin station, which is awaiting its inauguration, would serve as a junction. The station is located near JP University and many organizations have demanded to name it after Jayaprakash Narayan.
