ROURKELA: The ongoing Talcher-Bimlagarh new railway line project has failed to gained momentum with the East Coast Railway (ECoR) yet to get physical possession of the remaining encumbrance-free land. A key railway infrastructure project, it has been delayed despite regular monitoring by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and being included in the PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation) platform.
The Odisha High Court too has intervened to expedite land acquisition following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Talcher-Bimlagarh Rail Link Action Committee (TBRLAC) in September 2020 and the Odisha Chief Secretary (CS) has been holding review meetings, the latest conducted on May 31.
Reliable sources informed the Sundargarh district administration was supposed to ensure encumbrance-free stretch of 10 kms land by March 2022 to start work from Bimlagarh side in Sundargarh. By now the State government has offered the ECoR private land at 10 villages of Angul district and one in Sundargarh district only on papers.
They claimed ECoR's request to facilitate physical possession of land with help of revenue authorities and police was given a cold shoulder with the state government authorities insisting on intervening only in the event of law and order situation.
Faced with bitter experiences in matters of litigation, the ECoR too is going slow, focusing on one village at a time. TBRLAC Member Bimal Kumar Bisi on Thursday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik requesting his direct intervention to remove land related hurdles.
He urged the CM to promulgate relevant rules to ensure private land after acquisition should immediately be classified as Railway Land under Railway Act and Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 to prevent deliberate court litigation attempt for the remaining stretch.