New Delhi, Apr 17 (IANS): During the nationwide lockdown, the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has embraced a digital model to ensure seamless operations and said that it was holding pre-bid meetings for leasing various land parcels across the country.

The RLDA, which is a statutory body under the Railway Ministry looks after the development of vacant railway land for commercial use in line with the objective to generate revenue by non-tariff measures.

The RLDA on a statement said that it has invited bids for leasing various land parcels and is conducting pre-bid meetings via video conferencing to sustain the momentum.

"Initially for two RFQs (request for quotations) for development of Dehradun and Tirupati railway stations pre-did meetings are likely to be done online," it said.

The Indian Railways has approximately 43,000 hectares of vacant land across India.

Ved Parkash Dudeja, Vice- Chairman RLDA said, "We are was witnessing an unprecedented time due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We commend the healthcare fraternity for their untiring efforts to combat this global crisis."

"As a responsible organization, we stand with the government and thus will be conducting all pre-bid meetings through video conferencing to fight this pandemic. All queries of the stakeholders shall be answered on the spot through video conferencing or later by e-mails," he said.

Dudeja further said that RLDA is also committed to ensuring seamless operations by extensive use of digital technology and shall be implementing the "e-filing" system shortly for smooth functioning.

The RLDA further said that its employees have been working from home to ensure minimum impact of the lockdown in the day to day operations of the authority.