Naveen pitches for completion of pending rail projects

CM has urged railways minister to improve rail route coverage in state

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today drew the attention of the Railways minister towards the inadequate rail infrastructure despite Odisha generating over Rs 14,000 crore revenue for the Railways every year. The earning from Odisha represented one-tenth of the Railways’ total revenue.

Patnaik today met Railway minister, D V Sadananda Gowda at New Delhi, urging him to improve railway route coverage in Odisha and allocate Rs 3,160 crore in the Rail Budget for 2014-15. “I urged the Railway minister to allocate Rs 3,160 crore for Odisha in the Railway Budget for 2014-15 to expand and improve rail network. Also, I called for completion of all pending railway projects sanctioned in 1994-95 and 1997-98. We have reiterated our demand for construction of a wagon factory in Ganjam and a wagon maintenance workshop in Kalahandi,” Patnaik told reporters after meeting Gowda.

“Khurda-Bolangir rail project sanctioned in 1994-95, Haridaspur-Paradeep SPV (special purpose vehicle) project sanctioned in 1995-96, Angul-Duburi-Sukinda SPV project sanctioned in 1997-98, Talcher-Bimlagarh sanctioned in 2004-05 and Jaleswar-Digha sanctioned in 2010-11 need to be completed on priority basis by allocating sufficient funds,” Patnaik stated.

The Railways should accord priority on doubling of highly saturated lines including Talcher-Sambalpur, Sambalpur-Titlagarh-Raipur, Cuttack-Barang-Rajathgarh and Jakhapura-Keonjhar-Bansapani for enabling efficient passenger and freight movement, he pointed out.

To facilitate travel of tourists for the Nabakalebar festival at the Jagannath Temple, Puri, in 2015, the chief minister pressed for doubling of the Khurda-Puri line, completion of the Khurda junction bypass line and modernisation of the Bhubaneswar railway station on a war footing. Over five million pilgrims/ tourists are expected to congregate at Puri during Nabakalebar when the idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra would be replaced with a new set of idols. The last such ceremony was held in 1996.

The demand for allocation of Rs 3,160 crore stems from the growth in rail borne cargo traffic in Odisha which is projected to cross 300 million tonne per annum in the next five years driven by surge in investment proposals. In the last Railway Budget, Odisha received only Rs 869 crore against its demand of Rs 3,050 crore.