BALANGIR: The much-awaited Khurda-Balangir railway project has not been able to make much progress due to land acquisition issues despite money being allocated towards it in the Union Budget every year. This year too, the 289-km railway line project received a whopping `891 crore, the highest for a project so far in the State.
Sources said, a total of 6,162 acre land is required for the completion of the project, but only 4,913 km has been acquired till date. Of the remaining 1,249 km, most fall under forest land and only 170 acre has received government clearance.
Odisha and the Centre entered into an agreement in 2015, which envisaged completion of the project in six years. It was agreed upon that the land required for the project will be made available to the railway free of cost by the State government within 30 months by 2021. As per reports, only 92 km of the project has been completed till date including 76 km from the Khurda side till Mahipur station and 16 km from Balangir side till Bichupali station.
The estimated cost of the project has now escalated to Rs 3,792 crore and of the sanctioned amount, only Rs 1,596 crore utilised. “Although adequate money has been sanctioned towards the project every year by the Railway department, it is not reflecting in the expenditure. This raises question on the seriousness of the officials for the project,” alleged RTI activist Hemanta Panda.
Meanwhile, demand for a railway line in Kantabanji is gaining momentum with around 700-acre land acquired by the Railways lying unutilised in the area. “With land available, construction of a railway coach factory, loco shed or wagon factory in Kantabanji is more feasible besides helping in the uplift of poor migrants in the area,” said member of Railway User Association Ashish Khaitan.