Orissa gets Rs 836 crore from Railways

Orissa is likely to get Rs 836.64 crore for various railway projects in the state for 2010-11. This included funding for new lines, gauge conversion; doubling and electrification works to be taken up in the state. The allocation of the railways for Orissa during the last fiscal was Rs 715 crore.

Besides, Rs 65.53 crore has been proposed to be spent during the year for improving traffic facilities at different stations.

The Railway budget presented by Mamata Banerjee in the Lok Sabha today proposed to set up a multi-disciplinary training centre at Cuttack and a wagon manufacturing unit at Bhubaneswar.

While Lanjigarh-Bhawanipatna (31.7 km) section of Lanjigarh-Junagarh new broad gauge rail link project will be commissioned during the current financial year, Bhawanipatna-Junagarh section would be completed in 2010-11.

Khurda Road-Begunia (36 km) of Khurda road-Bolangir new rail link (289 kms) would also be commissioned in 2010-11. The proposed east-west dedicated freight corridor will cover Orissa, Chhatisgarh and Maharashtra. Similarly, dedicated east coast freight corridor would originate from West Bengal will cover Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

The total allocation for the on-going projects for 2010-11 has been estimated at Rs 430.7crore compared to Rs 275.07 crore in the last fiscal. Among the on going projects, allocation of Rs 75 crore has been made for Daitari-Banspani railway project. Similarly, Rs 120 crore has been earmarked for socially sensitive Khurda road-Bolangir project. The allocation for Lanjigarh-Junagarh has been fixed at Rs 60 crore, Haridaspur-Paradip (Rs 101 crore), Angul-Duburi-Sukinda road (Rs 22.5 crore), Talchaer-Bimlagarh (Rs 50 crore) and Digha- Jaleswar (Rs 2 crore).The ministry has allocated Rs 6 crore for gauge conversion and Rs 21 lakh for electrification.

On the other hand, Rs 399.73 crore is proposed to be spent for doubling of railway lines in the state. This is marginally higher than Rs 390 crore allocation for the current fiscal.

Among the doubling projects important ones included Rajathagarh-Barang (Rs 21.2 crore), Cuttack-Barang (Rs 20 crore), Khurda-Barang third line (Rs 40 crore), Jharsuguda-Rengali (Rs 23.7 crore), Sambalpur-Titlagarh ( Rs 35 crore), Bimlagarh-Dumerta (Rs 30 crore ) and Banspani-Tomka-Daitari (Rs 150 crore).