BARIPADA: Poor inter-State and inter-district railway connectivity from Mayurbhanj is likely to be a deciding factor in panchayat polls a few days away as this has been a longstanding yet unfulfilled demand of people in the district.
For a long, local residents have been demanding railway connectivity between Bangiriposi and Garumahisani (53 km), Badampahar and Keonjhar (80 km) and Budhamara and Chakulia (55 km) besides regular train service from Baripada to Puri via Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. But till now, these demands have remained unfulfilled despite assurances by officials and political leaders.
Sources said, government money worth lakhs is being spent for the surveys by the Kharagpur division under South Eastern Railway (SER) and reports submitted to the Railway Ministry but nothing concrete has come out of it.
As per information revealed by an RTI filed by one Ankit Das in 2019, Rs 2 lakh was spent for survey of Bangiriposi-Garumahisani railway line in 2005-06, Rs 6.30 lakh in 2013-14 and Rs 6.26 lakh in 2019-20. For the survey of the Budhamara-Chakulia rail line, Rs 2.8 lakh was spent in 2004-05.
The last survey of the Chakulia-Budhamara railway line was carried out by a seven-member team of SER in 2019. The railway line, once laid, will reduce the distance between Puri and Delhi by around 150 km and also provide an interchange option in addition to the existing Kharagpur-Tatanagar route. However, the location has still not been finalised.
While inaugurating the Railway Heritage Museum at Baripada in November last year, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs Bishweswar Tudu had stated that survey work for the new rail line between Bangiriposi and Garumahisani has already been completed. The route connectivity work was expected to commence within a couple of months and Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw would inaugurate the project but so far, no progress has been made in this regard.
Alleging official apathy, president of Mayurbhanj Railway Travellers Forum (MRTF) Abhijeet Ram claimed that despite scope for developing railway infrastructure in the district, nothing has been done to cater to demands of the people. Ram said, railway service from Bangiriposi to Balasore twice a day has been halted for three years now and the train is plying only upto Rupsa. This is forcing locals to shell out extra money to travel to Balasore via bus. Besides, the demand for two regular trains from Baripada to Puri is also yet to be addressed. Currently, only a special train is running from Bhanjpur to Puri every Thursday.