Jayanagar-Kurtha Railway: Konkan Railway has demanded advance payment

The Konkan Railway Corporation of India Limited has written a letter to the Nepal Railway Company requesting immediate payment of advance payment for the operation and management of the Jayanagar-Kurtha railway.

Chief Mechanical Engineer of Konkan Corporation Limited Dinesh Tripathi has written a letter to the General Manager of Nepal Railway Company on Wednesday requesting to pay 20 percent in advance for the operation of Jayanagar-Kurtha railway service as soon as possible.

The company has requested to pay 20 percent in advance as per the bilateral contract agreement. An agreement was reached between Nepal Railway Company and Indian Konkan Railway Corporation Limited for the operation of railway service, maintenance, training of Nepali employees and Indian Railways drivers at a cost of Rs 220 million.

As per the agreement, Nepal has not yet paid 20 percent in advance. Former General Manager of Nepal Railway Company Guruprasad Bhattarai said that the contract could be canceled if the government did not pay the Indian company as per the contract agreement. "I have completed the required process and tried to pay 20 percent in advance as per the contract agreement, but the payment process was stopped after the government asked for an explanation," he said. "Now I have resigned. Therefore, if the government of Nepal is to operate this railway, it has to pay the Indian company as per the previous contract agreement.

Bhattarai said that the Indian side had written a letter of intent to cancel the agreement as the government had not paid on time. ‘The drama of explanation was staged when I was ready to send money and run the train. If he cancels the agreement, the two trains will go to waste, 'Bhattarai wrote in a letter on social network Facebook. As soon as I found out that I had resigned yesterday, Konkan Railway, which had agreed on the main role of railway operation, has written a letter of intent to cancel the agreement.