ROURKELA: Regardless of the intervention of the revenue divisional commissioner - northern division (RDC-ND), the Sundargarh and Deogarh districts have not been able to meet the August deadline for the complete handover of land for the much-delayed Talcher-Bimlagarh new rail line project.
Amid the slow progress of the land transfer, the desperate stakeholders have appealed to the chief justice of the Orissa High Court (OHC) to urgently hear two pending PILs to help enable the possession of land to the East Coast Railway (ECoR) to avoid further delay in project completion.
One of the PILs, filed by the members of the Sachetan Nagarik Manch (SNM) in early 2021, demanded the removal of land hurdles in Angul, Deogarh and Sundargarh districts.SNM president Bimal Bisi and secretary PP Ray on Friday sent an appeal to the chief justice of OHC urging urgent disposal of the PILs for expeditious removal of land hurdles for the project.
Bisi said after RDC-ND SCDalai’s intervention a few months back, private land acquisition was expeditiously completed in Angul, while Deogarh and Sundargarh districts had committed to hand over total land by August end. He said after the end of the deadline, Sundargarh has shown partial outcome but Deogarh district only ensured the transfer of a fraction of the required private land.
“It is unfortunate that the backward Deogarh district has no rail connectivity, yet neither the state government nor the district administration is serious about the key railway infrastructure project that has been lingering for two decades even if three generations of people are struggling for the cause,” he rued.
He claimed if the revenue authorities in these two districts manage to transfer the remaining land by September end, the ECoR may not be required to further extend the revised completion target of March 2026.
The project with 149.78 km length is running years behind completion schedule. It is of significant economic and passenger convenience value as it would reduce the distance between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar by around 120 km and also set up the shortest route to Paradip port.
KEY INFORMATION
Of 188.24 acres of private land, possession was given for only 6.86 acre
The entire govt land of 70.42 acre in Deogarh is yet to be alienated
In Sundargarh, possession was given for 155.86 acre of total 247.64 acre pvt land; of 138.11 acre govt land, 71.92 acre remains to be alienated
Possession for 549.86 acre pvt land is received in Angul, while of 211.27 acre of govt land, 21.84 acre remain to be alienated
The rail project after its completion would reduce the distance between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar by 120 km