BARBIL: The Barbil Civil Society on Tuesday demanded a direct rail link between Barbil and Banspani stations under the Chakradharpur division of the South Eastern Railway. Members of the outfit submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to the local tehsildar in this regard.
They alleged that though the Railways collect crores of rupees as freight charges towards the transportation of iron ores in the mining belt, passenger service is almost negligible in the area. A passenger train on the Jakhpura-Banspani route has been running from Puri to Barbil since 2009.
But since there is no rail line between the 17-km stretch from Barbil and Banspani, the train has to pass through Jharkhand covering an extra 70 km. This causes great inconvenience to the passengers, they said.
Member of the outfit Rasanand Behera said the proposal for a rail line was placed in the 2016-17 railway budget. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) was to be formed to execute the project. However, no further step was taken in this regard.
Recently, in-principal approval was accorded to the project with a loading station at Bhadrasahi at an estimated cost of Rs 433.2 crore. “A detailed project report has been prepared by the state government in this regard. We urge the CM to expedite the process so that the mineral-rich Barbil is linked to the rest of the country,” Behera added.