Indian Railways Terminates Contract With Chinese Company, But 'Not Due To India-China Border Standoff'

Indian Railways announced its decision to terminate a contract given to a Chinese company in 2016.

Representational Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The Indian Railways on Thursday announced its decision to end a contract awarded to a Chinese company in 2016 for a project worth Rs 471 crores.  The project was for establishing signalling and telecommunication work on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor's 417-km section between Kanpur and Mughalsarai. The contract worth Rs 471 crores was given to Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Group in 2016. A recent violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh's Galwan valley led to the martyrdom of 20 brave Indian soldiers, which further re-stoked the demand for banning Chinese products in India and reducing trade ties with the country. China is also being held responsible for the strained relationship between India and Nepal as there are clear signals of how it is trying to grow its influence against India's interests there. Looking at the circumstances, the most obvious assumption for the reason behind the cancellation would be the growing anti-china sentiment in India. However, the railways clarified that the clash in Ladakh does not have anything to do with it. The termination is happening due to "poor progress". They were supposed to complete the work by 2019, but only 20 percent of the work has been completed so far, said the Railways. Several issues pertaining to the contract have been revealed. These include the reluctance of the company to report technical documents such as the logic design of electronic interlocking, non-availability of their Engineers/authorized personnel at the site, no progression in terms of physical work as they have no tie-up with the local agencies, lack in material procurement and finally limited progress despite meetings at every possible level. The World Bank has been funded by the World Bank and the Railways will write a letter to them seeking cancellation of its contract citing the issues of the company's non-performance. Reportedly, een if the World Bank disagrees, the Railways will cancel the Chinese company's contract and fund the project by keeping an Indian company in preference.