BHUBANESWAR: Seeking connectivity to areas hitherto have no rail links, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged Union Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal to sanction at least six rail lines for Odisha in the upcoming general budget for 2018-19 to extend linkage to backward regions which are full of natural resources.
Submitting a detailed project proposal worth Rs 6,500 crore to the Railways Ministry ahead of the presentation of the next general budget, the CM said the proposed rail links traverse mainly through unconnected and backward districts full of natural resources. Apart from establishing linkage with southern Odisha, the new lines will trigger the rapid economic growth of the backward regions by facilitating mineral movements.
The projects proposed by the CM include Berhampur-Phulbani-Sambalpur, Bargarh-Nuapada via Padampur, Bhadracghalam-Malkangiri, Talcher-Gopalpur, Gopalpur-Singapur Road new board gauge line and Lanjigarh-Talcher rail lines.
"I request you to sanction these important new lines in the forthcoming budget which can bring prosperity along with connectivity to the needy areas. Apart from these, I have proposed to bear 50 per cent of construction and land cost for the line connecting Puri-Konark, the most important tourist section of the state and a popular international destination," Patnaik said in his letter to Goyal.
Justifying the demand for an increased allocation of Rs 6,500 crore against last year's support of Rs 5,102 crore, the CM said despite posting a higher growth rate, which is almost 20 per cent higher than the growth rate of the national GDP (gross domestic products), and contributing in excess of Rs 15,000 crore revenue annually to the Railways, the rail density of the state at 16 per cent is much less than the national average of 20 per cent.
To correct this aberration, the state government has demarcated rail connectivity as a priority area with the mandate to extend rail network to every district with a focus specifically to those regions that have not got the opportunity to grow due to lack of this infrastructure, he said.
"To ensure rail connectivity to tribal districts, the state government has signed MoUs with the Ministry of Railways for a few projects While it has agreed to bear 50 per cent of the construction cost of Jeypor-Nabarangpur and 25 per cent construction and land cost of Jeypore-Malkangiri lines, the state has committed to allocate land free of cost for the Daspalla-Balangir section and share 50 per cent of the project cost," the letter said.
Expressing his displeasure over the slow pace of works of several important railway projects under implementation in the state, the CM urged Goyal to re-prioritise projects like Khurda Road-Balangir, Talcher-Bimalagarh, Jeypore-Nabarangpur and JeyporeMalakangiri for seamless execution as these projects have immense socio-economic growth
potential.
With the East Coast Railway (ECoR) making rapid strides by becoming the top loading railway and registering highest growth rate in passenger bookings, the CM said the growth in different geographical areas of the state now calls for a reorganisation of its administrative structure with new divisional headquarters at Rayagada, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road and Rourkela.