Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), a statutory authority of Indian Railways, has invited bids for leasing out two land parcels at Station Road near Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Railway Station for commercial development.  The reserve price for Parcel ‘A’ having an area of 7,521.45 Sqm is Rs 14.18 Crore and for Parcel ‘B’ with an area of 7,831.23 Sqm is Rs. 14.97 Crore, both for a lease period of 45 years. Pre-bid meeting was conducted online and many local and National Level Developers participated in this pre-bid meeting and showed keen interest. The last date for submission of e-Bids is 24.10.2022.

The site is situated along Station Road, north-east of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Katra Railway Station and is well connected to all parts of Katra city. Katra Development Authority has proposed an Inter-State Bus Stand towards the north-west of the railway station and very near to site.

Katra, or Vaishno Devi, as it is popularly known, is a city near Reasi in Reasi district within the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India, situated in the foothills of the Trikuta Mountains, where the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi is located.

As per statistics published by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, 55.88 Lakh tourists visited the temple during 2021. During 2022, the number of pilgrims has already crossed 63.81 Lakhs upto August, 2022. An estimated 80 lakh pilgrims visit the temple every year making it the second most visited religious place in India, after Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple. The average influx of approx. 25000 pilgrims per day makes this site eminently suitable for commercial development.

Ved Parkash Dudeja, Vice Chairman, RLDA said “The proposed land parcels located in close proximity of the railway station is ideal for commercial development. Katra, with its thriving tourism industry, offers plenty of scope for developing this land parcel into a commercial or retail space. Its strategic location will offer ample footfall to any kind of commercial development done on this land parcel.”

Katra is well-connected by road with other places in Jammu and Kashmir and India. The NH 144 passes through Katra. Presently, it takes around 12 hours to travel from New Delhi to Katra. The planned Delhi–Amritsar–Katra Expressway will shorten the duration to 7 hours. The Jammu–Baramulla line connects the Katra Railway Station of Northern Railways to the rest of the Indian railways’ network. The nearest airport to Katra is Jammu Airport, located at a distance of 50 kilometres. There are numerous helipads in and around Katra which have services to the Vaishno Devi Temple.

The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) is a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways for the development of railway land. It has four key mandates as a part of its development plan, namely leasing commercial sites, colony redevelopment, station redevelopment, and multi-functional complexes.

During current Financial Year, RLDA has leased out Fifteen sites which are situated at Bangalore & Raichur (Karnataka), Liluah & Salt Golah (Howrah), Nizamabad (Telangana), Waltax Road & Egmore (Chennai), Bhopal (MP), Ludhiana (Punjab), Abu Road (Rajasthan), Bhusawal & Solapur (Maharashtra), Bareilly, Varanasi and Gorakhpur in UP for a cumulative lease premium of Rs. 1633 Crore including Railway assets valuing approx. Rs. 226 Crore which shall be developed in Bangalore, Bhopal, Egmore (Chennai), Bareilly and Ludhiana Railway Colonies.