BHUBANESWAR: The BJD on Monday stepped up its attack on the state government’s decision to cancel the Bhubaneswar metro rail project, calling it a major setback to Odisha’s infrastructure growth.
While the party’s MP in the Rajya Sabha Sasmit Patra wrote to Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Manohar Lal Khattar, urging Centre’s intervention to help revive the project, other leaders including former minister Ashok Panda, Bhubaneswar-Central MLA Ananta Narayan Jena and Bhubaneswar mayor Sulochana Das lashed out at the state government for shelving it.
In his letter to Khattar, Patra said the metro project can still be undertaken through a 50:50 cost-sharing arrangement with the state or providing equivalent financial support. He said the metro was planned as a critical mass transit backbone for the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda-Puri corridor and cancelling it would hurt infrastructure growth and deny people an important mobility and economic lifeline. “Governance must be continuous. Projects like this should continue in public interest,” he said.
Meanwhile, the other senior leaders sharply criticised the decision and demanded that it be reconsidered. They said metro systems are already running successfully in 18 states. “The government’s claim that the project would incur an annual loss of Rs 2,000 crore is just an excuse. The project was scrapped to deny credit to former chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who had initiated it,” they said.
They said, the metro project, worth over `6,255 crore, had been initiated through a global tender. The Naveen Patnaik government planned to implement the project using the state’s own resources without depending on the Centre.
“The metro was not just a transport project but a matter of pride for Odisha,” they said.