Patnaik seeks Rs 3,160 cr for Odisha in Rail budget

Also stresses on completion of all five projects sanctioned between 1994-95 and 2010-11

Odisha today sought an allocation of Rs 3,160 crore in the Railway Budget 2014-15 to complete delayed projects and augment rail infrastructure in the state.

During his meeting with Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda here, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also stressed on completion of all five projects sanctioned between 1994-95 and 2010-11.

"The Railway Minister said he will certainly try and expedite all these works including the much-delayed Khurda Road-Balangir project," Patnaik told reporters after half-an-hour meeting with Gowda.

"I have urged the Minister to allocate Rs 3,160 crore for Odisha in the Railway Budget for 2014-15 towards expansion and improving railway coverage," he added.

To ensure smooth movement of freight, the Chief Minister sought doubling of saturated railway lines in the state. They include the Talcher-Sambalpur, Sambalpur-Titlagarh-Raipur, Cuttack-Barang- Rajatgarh and Jakhapura-Keonjhar-Bansapani sections.

Besides, he reiterated the state's demand for a wagon factory in Ganjam and a wagon maintenance workshop in Kalahandi.

In view of increasing passenger movement during the Nabakalebar festival in Puri in 2015, Patnaik urged the Railway Minister for completing the doubling work of Khurda Road-Puri line and Khurda Road junction bypass and modernisation of Bhubaneswar railway station.