Naveen seeks Rs 5,000 cr in Rail Budget

The railway route length and density in Odisha is much below national average as also substantially lower than that in neighbouring states, he wrote in a letter to the govt

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has sought an allocation of Rs 5,000 crore for Odisha in the Rail Budget for 2016-17, citing the state's enormous contribution to Railways' earnings.

"The railway route length and density in Odisha is much below national average as also substantially lower than that in neighbouring states. In contrast, gross earnings from various stations in the state is estimated to be inn excess of Rs 14,000 crore during 2014-15. I wolud request you to kindly ensure allocation of a sizeable part of the revenues generated from Odisha within the state for strengthening and expanding rail infrastructure," Patnaik said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also to the Railways minister.

He pointed out that a large part of Odisha, especially the backward regions that have remained untouched by the Railways. The lack of infrastructure has been one of the major reasons, which has impeded the socio-economic growth of this region, he said.

Patnaik alleged that though the central government have initiated many ambitious projects like dedicated freight corridor aligned with mega industrial hubs, national road expressways and high speed train projects, but has completely bypassed Odisha although some of the country's largest investment in the steel, aluminium and power sectors are coming up here.

He said, the Odisha government has been extending all support for implementation of rail projects- the state government has signed two MoUs (memorandum of understanding) with Railways for setting up two special purpose vehicles (SPVs)- one for taking up new rail projects in the state and another for construction of rail infrastructure jointly with Coal ministry for coal evacuation.