ROURKELA: Slum dwellers of Gopabandhupali, which connects the Railway Colony here, disrupted movement of trains for hours accusing South Eastern Railway (SER) of not allowing a four-lane and water pipeline projects through its land. For the last couple of days, the agitators, led by youth leader Prakash Paswan, were staging dharna over the issue. They intensified the stir on the day by staging a rail roko.
SER sources informed that Ispat Express was stopped from 11.40 am to 2.20 pm and Danapur-Durg Express, also plying on the same time, was also affected. A complaint would be lodged with Government Railway Police against 100 persons for disrupting train services, the sources added.
Paswan and the agitators claimed that SER had stopped laying of water pipeline work between Malgodam and Gopabandhupali and also not allowing the administration to complete the four-lane project. However, it was found that the allegation about the water pipeline project is untrue. PHED Executive Engineer A Patel said there is no hurdle for the pipeline work taken up under AMRUT scheme as they have changed the alignment suitably.
Incidentally, the SER had stopped a mega pipeline work between MS Pali and SRP office three years back. But it later allowed the work under pressure. The four-lane project between BSNL Office and Basanti Colony is 4,200 metres in length and 70 feet width with original cost of around `13 crore. The project would give direct access to a vast population to the second entrance of Rourkela railway station.
However, SER has stopped work on a patch of 1,200 metres on its land asking the Sundargarh district administration to confine the width to 30 feet or pay `110 crore towards land premium and compensation.
On the other hand, senior BJP leader Pramila Das said Paswan has misled the slum dwellers by falsely alleging that SER is opposing the water pipeline project. Sundargarh MP and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram has already taken up the four-lane project issue with Railway Minister Piyush Goyal twice, she added.