'False Reports': Iran denies dropping India from Chabahar-Zahedan rail

Iran, July 21: Terminating all the fake reports, the Iran Railways head Saeed Rasouli denied those reports stating that India had been dropped from the Chabahar-Zahedan railway project. It further stated that "vested interests" were behind such reports.

 

 

Indian ambassador Gaddam Dharmendra was invited by Iran Railways head Saeed Rasoulito to review ongoing co-op on the Chabahar-Zahedan railway. Envoy Amb also met Speaker of Iran's Majlis Baqer Qalibaf. Amb also conveyed greetings of Speaker of Lok Sabha Shri Om Birla. They also held discussions to further boost ties between the two countries. The India Ambassador was called on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of bilateral ties between India and Iran.

 

 

Last week, the Ministry of External Affairs has said that despite the difficulties posed by the sanctions situation, there has been significant progress on the Chabahar Port project. An Indian company has been operating the Port since 2018 and it has handled 12 lakh tonnes of bulk cargo and 8200 containers. The company has steadily scaled up the traffic at the Port with proactive measures currently underway to increase the usage of Chabahar Port, both for Afghanistan and Central Asia.

 

The Chabahar Port, which has been a long-standing commitment between India and Iran since 2003, was finally operationalized in 2016 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Iran. During his, India and Iran signed an MoU on the construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line which forms part of the transit and transportation corridor in a trilateral agreement between India, Iran, and Afghanistan.

 

Earlier, media reports stated India has been dropped out of the Chabahar-Zahidan railway project by Hassan Rouhani led government due to allegedly delayed funding by India. Following this, MEA spokesman Anurag Srivastava denied the report and said, "The Iranian side was to nominate an authorized entity to finalize outstanding technical and financial issues. This is still awaited." He added, "IRCON which was appointed by the government of India to assess the feasibility of the project has completed site inspection and review of feasibility."

 

   

The 628-km railway line will cross the south-eastern province of Sistan and Balochistan to link the provincial capital of Zahedan with Chabahar, Iran's only oceanic port in the Gulf of Oman. The railway will also be connected to the Trans-Iranian Railway, allowing for direct rail freight services between Chabahar port and the rest of Iran, as well as landlocked central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. This will provides the main entrance for a route allowing it to reach Afghanistan and continental Asia bypassing Pakistan. It will open Indian goods to markets in Afghanistan.

 

India had offered to supply approximately $400 million worth of steel towards the construction of this railway, as well as offered to finance the construction of the Chabahar to Zahedan rail line for $1.6 billion. India began shipping rail tracks worth US$150 million in July 2016 and in December 2016 Iran also allocated US$125 million for this rail route. India has already built a 240-km road connecting Afghanistan with Iran.