ROURKELA: Demand for creation of a new division at Rourkela under the East Coast Railway (ECoR) comprising three mining and industrial districts of Sundargarh, Jharsuguda and Keonjhar has been renewed after Rajya Sabha member from Odisha Ashwini Vaishnaw took charge as the Railway Minister.The demand to bifurcate Chakradharpur Division of South Eastern Railway (SER) for the new division has been raised at various levels since long. Both in 2018 and 2019, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had demanded three new divisions in Odisha including one at Rourkela after the Visakhapatnam division was taken out of ECoR.
On July 9, general secretary of Steel Executives’ Federation of India Bimal Bisi sent an e-mail to the new Railway Minister in this regard and said it is a legitimate demand considering the revenue contribution and strategic importance of the region.BJD MLA of Rourkela Sarada Parasd Nayak said located on the Howrah-Mumbai main line of SER, Rourkela in Sundargarh district has the country’s first public sector integrated steel plant with important railway installations and vast vacant land at Bondamunda. Thus, it is a deserving place for the headquarters of a new railway division.
“The new Railway Minister with his stint in Sundargarh and Odisha as a bureaucrat is better informed about the need for growth of railway infrastructure in the State than any of his predecessors. The Minister’s attention would be drawn to this matter as the creation of a new rail division at Rourkela is the only answer to address the railway’s neglect to the three revenue generating districts of Odisha,” Nayak added. Birmitrapur’s BJP MLA Shankar Oram said a BJP delegation would meet the Railway Minister and urge him to consider Rourkela’s legitimate claim on merit.
Former Union Minister and Sundargarh’s BJP MP Jual Oram has been unsuccessfully pursuing the issue for long.Chakradharpur Division in Jharkhand is considered the ‘heart’ of SER covering the main corridor of freight and passenger traffic between country’s eastern and western parts. It covers East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, Saraikela-Kharsawan and Simdega districts in Jharkhand besides Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj of Odisha. Of its total route length of 741.705 km, 405.907 km fall in Odisha. Chakradharpur is the highest revenue generator for SER and 65-70 per cent of its earnings comes from Sundargarh, Jharsuguda and Keonjhar.