Central government criticised for ignoring new rail line plan in Odisha

The line would benefit under-developed tribal belts in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The proposed rail project would connect to Delhi main line and set up direct link to Allahabad and beyond.
For representational purposes (File | EPS)
For representational purposes (File | EPS)

ROURKELA: The BJP-led government at the centre has been accused of ignoring the long-pending demand for Jharsuguda-Ambikapur new rail line via Sundargarh.

The line would benefit under-developed tribal belts in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The proposed rail project would connect to Delhi main line and set up direct link to Allahabad and beyond.

New railway tracks of about 300 km between Jharsuduga (Odisha) and Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh) via Sundargarh (Odisha), Gumla (Jharkhand) and Tapkra and Jashpurnagar (both in Chhattisgarh) would provide direct and shortest rail link to Allahabad.

In an RTI reply in 2013, the Railway Board had informed that two surveys were underway for the new rail line between Jharsuguda and Ambikapur to connect Delhi main line and Ambikapur to Jharsguda via Batul, Sitapur and Pathalgaon. However, the proposal was not sanctioned.

Till date, the fate of the surveys is also not known. 

Before 2017-18 Budget, Odisha Government had also proposed to the Centre to include the new Jharsuguda-Allahabad rail line via Sundargarh, Gumla, Ambikapur, Sidhim and Nuagaon in the three States in railway budget and complete the survey work expeditiously.  

Taking a dig at the Narendra Modi government, former Congress Chief Minister and ex-Sundargarh MP Hemananda Biswal said the Congress-led UPA-II had sanctioned the survey budget in 2012-13.

The Modi government, though has completed five years in power, continues to ignore the much-needed project in its second term. 

He said the tribal areas through which the proposed line would pass are bestowed with natural resources but are devoid of industrial and economic growth due to lack rail connectivity.

Sundargarh District Bar Association president and former District Congress Committee chief Dushmanta Naik said it is unfortunate that this legitimate demand is getting overlooked.

He accused former Union Tribal Affairs Minister and Sundargarh BJP MP Jual Oram of not raising the issue before his Government. 

The demand for the new line intensified in 2009 with the then BJP MP Dilip Singh Judev of Chhattisgarh leading the core committee of leaders of the three States. But the movement received a setback with Judev’s untimely demise in 2013. 

Newly-elected Sundargarh BJP MLA Kusum Tete said she is at New Delhi to submit a memorandum for the new rail line. “I will meet Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday in this regard,” she said.

Slow track

  • The proposed rail project would connect to Delhi main line and set up direct link to Allahabad and beyond

  • New railway tracks of about 300 km between Jharsuduga and Ambikapur via Sundargarh, Gumla and Tapkra and Jashpurnagar would provide direct and shortest rail link to Allahabad

  • The proposal is yet to be sanctioned

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