Ray blames Centre, State for delay in rail project
ROURKELA: Rourkela BJP legislator and former Union minister Dilip Ray on Sunday cited lack of coordination between the Centre and the State as the reason behind the delay in completion of Bimlagarh-Talcher rail project. Ray sought the intervention of the Prime Minister, the Odisha Chief Minister and the Railway Minister to ensure that land acquisition for the project is completed on time. He also suggested monthly review by the Central and the State governments to assess its progress and advocated the need for a high-level probe for delay in completion of the project.
Ray said the process of land acquisition has been slow in Angul and Deogarh districts and claimed that East Coast Railway (ECoR) in 2015 had applied for alienation of Government land and diversion of forest land. He sought action against State Government officials who have allegedly been delaying the project. Ray also said the project aims at reducing the distance between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar to 347 km from 462 km via Sambalpur. It would also establish the shortest route with coastal Odisha and open up new avenues for passenger and freight traffic and play a significant role in industrial and economic growth of the State.
Incidentally, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal during a meeting with Union Tribal Affairs Minister and Sundargarh Lok Sabha member Jual Oram in December last year had blamed the Odisha Government of failing to acquire land causing delay in implementation of the project.
Sundargarh district working president of BJD and Rourkela Development Authority chairman Sarada Prasad Nayak said Odisha is a leading State when it comes to offering free land and sharing 50 per cent cost for railway projects. He said that the Centre’s allegations are baseless. Nayak said ECoR had earlier applied for land only in Angul district and the process was not initiated in Sundargarh and Deogarh districts until a year ago despite the fact that land acquisition is a lengthy process involving several technicalities.
Meanwhile, ECoR sources said significant progress has been made on the 0-20 km stretch from Talcher side. The Prime Minister’s Office, which is monitoring the project, has revised the completion deadline and now it is December 2022. So far, the NDA Government has sanctioned a total of `982.50 crore against the anticipated project cost of around `1,928.07 crore for a total length of about 154 km.