BHUBANESWAR: THE State Government on Wednesday asked the Centre to initiate the East Coast and East-West dedicated freight corridors to ensure seamless movement of freight between upcoming ports on Odisha coast, including the major port at Paradip and the vast Northern and Central hinterland of the country.
Though the State’s demand for extension of the two dedicated freight corridors was announced in the 2016-17 Railway Budget, nothing has happened on the ground.Noting that investment proposals of about `3 lakh crore in diverse sectors are at different stages in the State, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a letter to Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said the State is fast emerging as the mining and metal hub of the country with substantive addition of power generation capacity.
It is expected that the growth in rail-borne traffic will be in excess of 450 MTA in the near future and pressure on existing logistic infrastructure will be enormous. “I request you to initiate the East Coast dedicated freight corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada and East-West dedicated freight corridor from Jharsuguda to Bilaspur to ensure seamless movement of freight between the upcoming ports on Odisha coast along with the major port at Paradip,” said the Chief Minister. Expressing concern over the slow progress of projects being developed by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), Naveen said the works on Angul-Duburi-Sukinda and Haridaspur-Paradip rail links is far from satisfactory.
“RVNL has not been able to put all contracts in place nor has it mobilised sufficient resources to take up work on all the rail faces available. Conflict of interest with RVNL, playing two different roles of owner as well as contractor needs to be reviewed,” the letter said. Patnaik urged Goyal to direct his Ministry to take over the works or appoint new EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contractors for the projects. “I would also seek early action from Railway Ministry to start the process of running of passenger trains in these two projects, which are passing through backward and unconnected areas of the State,” he said.
Naveen also reiterated the State’s demand for running a new train by the name of ‘Bakshi Jagabandhu Express’ from Khurda to Mumbai to commemorate the bi-centenary year of Paika rebellion, led by Bakshi Jagabadhu Bidyadhar Mohapatra.
Other demands
Expediting work on Talcher-Bimlagarh and Jaleswar-Digha new lines
Doubling of Sambalpur-Titlagarh, Titlagarh-Raipur, Sambalpur-Talcher and Daitari-Keonjhar-Bansapani
Third line on Bhadrak-Nergndi-Vizianagaram stretch
Sanction of short link rail lines like Talcher-Angul, Paradip-Dhamara, Champua-Anandapur-Jajpur and Barsuan-Bansapal-Badbil
Puri-Konark and Keonjhar Road-Jajpur (via Aradi) links from tourism
point of view
Wagon manufacturing factory at Sitapali in Ganjam district
Concrete slipper plants at Kantabanji and Bandamunda