Odisha: Railways Chairman reviews projects, says more funds allocated to tackle land acquisition issues

Chairman of Railway Board (CRB) Vinod Kumar Yadav on Sunday visited Bhubaneswar to review undergoing projects funded by the Centre and said 'more funds have been allocated this year to sort out land acquisition problems.'

"Some important projects funded by Centre are underway at East Coast Zone. The slow progress of these projects is due to the problem of land acquisition. Last year allocated fund for the projects of the state has not been fully utilised due to land acquisition problem. But this year, more funds have been allocated to sort out the problem," Yadav said after reviewing the site.

He said there will be no fund constraint for any project as the additional fund can be provided through Extra Budgetary resources (EBR) for the economically viable projects.

The Chairman appreciated work done by officials concerned for the restoration of Bhubaneswar Railway station, Puri Railway station and Puri coaching deport.

"Bhubaneswar station main entrance will be redeveloped with the help of state government and all the issues regarding the signing of MoU with the State have been sorted out," he said.

Last month, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal wrote to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asking him to issue necessary instructions to officers concerned to take appropriate action for clearing roadblocks in order to expedite the execution of Railway projects in the state.

"Indian Railways are executing a large number of Infrastructure projects of new Line, gauge conversion, doubling, transmission line works pertaining to Railway electrification projects and public-private partnership projects. Many of these Projects are getting delayed due to land acquisition, forestry and wildlife clearance, shifting of utilities and eviction of encroachment," the letter stated.