BARIPADA: The district unit of BJD on Friday staged a demonstration in front of Baripada railway station protesting the step-motherly attitude of NDA Government towards the State and Mayurbhanj district in particular.
Shouting slogans against the Union Government, hundreds of protesters including BJD students’ and youth wing members took part in the demonstration.
Vice Chairperson of Baripada Municipality and BYJD district president Jitendra Mohanty lambasted the Centre by claiming that the genuine demands of the district have been ignored once again in the railway budget.
The long-standing demands of railway infrastructure and development like basic public amenities at railway stations, modernisation of the 110-year-old Baripada station, route connectivity to TATA-Badampahar, change of timetable of Shalimar-Similipal intercity express, extension of Bangiriposi-Bhubaneswar superfast express up to Puri and introduction of new trains for the district were ignored.
Mohanty rued that though Baripada station was announced as a ‘D’ grade station by the railway department lone ago, no facility is available for the passengers till date. The protesters pointed out the electronic display of information on running of trains was an important demand which has not been met even after repeated reminders.
Rourkela: Demonstrations were held at various places in Sundargarh district by BJD workers over the neglect meted out to Odisha in the railway budget.
BJD unit president AC Mohanty reiterated the demand to carve out a separate rail division from the Chakradharpur division and locate the new division’s headquarters at Rourkela under the East Coast Railway. Mohanty resented that demands for a new intercity express from Bhubaneswar to Rourkela, new direct trains to Berhampur and Jajpur were ignored.
He said other demands included extension of rail connection to the district headquarters town of Sundargarh and speeding up of the ongoing Bimlagarh-Talcher rail line project. Similar protests were also held near railway stations at Kansbahal, Bimlagarh and Barsuan in the district.
Sambalpur: The party workers staged demonstration in front of Sambalpur railway station at Khetrajpur. They said although the State has been contributing more than `14,000 crore annually to the Indian Railways, allocation to the State is not commensurate to the contribution. BJD leader Pramod Rath accused the Union Government of being partisan to BJP ruled States and demanded that all pending projects in Odisha be completed. At Jharsuguda, party president and Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) Chairman, Kishore Kumar Mohanty, alleged that despite earning thousand of crores of rupees as profit every year, Union Railway Minister Sadananda Gouda allocated around only `1420 crore to Odisha against its demand of `3160 crore.
