BHUBANESWAR: In his first budget as Railway Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw has been quite generous for Odisha as total allocation for the State has made a quantum jump with a provision of Rs 9,734 crore for infrastructure and safety projects, marking an increase of 76 per cent over Rs 5,528 crore made in 2021-22.
While the total state-wise allocation in the budget is yet to be released officially, provision for different railway lines, doubling and other projects has been made available. The focus has been clearly on development of railway infrastructure in west and south Odisha districts. The Khurda Road-Balangir project has received the maximum budgetary provision of Rs 891 crore, marginally less than last year’s Rs 1,000.5 crore.
With focus on completion of ongoing projects, Rs 475 crore has been allocated for Angul-Sukinda railway line while provision of Rs 85 crore has been made for Haridaspur-Paradip line. Talcher-Bimlagarh railway line has received allocation of Rs 250 crore while two new projects, Jeypore-Malkangiri and Jeypore-Nabarangpur railway lines have been allocated Rs 13.8 crore and Rs 81 crore respectively.
Allocation for the Bansapani-Daitari-Tomka-Jakhpura railway line has increased to Rs 300 crore in this year’s budget compared to Rs 228 crore last year while Rs 172.5 crore has been provided for Sambalpur-Talcher railway line. Provision for other railway line projects include Rs 164 crore for Khurda-Baranga third line, Rs 79.5 crore for Sambalpur-Titlagarh line and Rs 10 crore for Naupada-Gunpur-Therubali railway line.
There has also been huge increase in allocation for line doubling. While the Titilagarh-Vizianagaram third line of 264.6 km has been allocated Rs 961 crore, the Bhadrak-Nergundi third line has received Rs 351 crore. The Nayagarh-Bhadrak line has received Rs 800 crore with Budapank-Salegaon and Koraput-Singapore Road doubling projects getting Rs 510 crore and Rs 363 crore respectively.
According to available information, the Sambalpur-Gopalpur railway line via Phulbani has also got approval in this budget. Provisions for passenger amenities, modernisation of railway stations and other projects will be released in a day or two.
The State government had demanded Rs 7,600 crore allocation for railway infrastructure. It had requested development of new railway rake points at Kerjang and Paralakhemundi in Angul and Gajapati districts respectively.
Thanking Vaishnaw for the record allocation, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that this will expedite development of railway infrastructure in the State. Stating that the Modi government has given priority to railway sector in Odisha, he said that allocation has been made taking into account the requirement of projects.