ROURKELA: Ahead of the Union budget, the Rail Vikas Sangharsh Samiti (RVSS) has demanded provisioning for the Sardega-Sundargarh-Pathalgaon and Dharamjaigarh-Pathalgaon-Lohardaga new rail line proposals.
For both proposals, the final location surveys (FLSs) collection of field details for geo-technical investigations, and preparation of general arrangement drawings and estimates have been completed.
Members of the RVSS from Chhattisgarh and Sundargarh submitted a joint memorandum to Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking budget provisions for both the proposals on December 16. The outfit comprises stakeholders of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.
RVSS general secretary Dhruba Kalo said, the Sardega-Sundargarh-Pathalgaon new line proposes a total length of 128 km which would meet at Pathalgaon under Raigarh district in Chhattisgarh. If it materialises, the nearest station for Sundargarh town will be Balijodi which is hitherto deprived of rail connectivity. At present, people of Sundargarh town and nearby blocks take trains from Jharsuguda station travelling 30 km to 50 km by road.
Similarly, the proposed Dharamjaigarh-Pathalgaon-Lohardaga line envisages the shortest rail link from Chhattisgarh to Jharkhand. This proposal has made significant progress than the Sardega-Sundargarh-Pathalgaon proposal the DPR for which is pending, and an RVSS delegation recently met Union Tribal Affairs minister Jual Oram who assured to expedite the process, he added.
RVSS secretary Bhubaneswar Mishra of Jashpur district in Chhattisgarh said both proposals running through tribal districts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand are of critical importance to set up rail link along with opening of new opportunities for socio-economic betterment of the neglected tribal belts.
With the intervention of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, the DPR for the Dharamjaigarh-Pathalgaon-Lohardaga proposal has been completed and decks have also been cleared for acquisition of land. Mishra urged Odisha government and Rail Ministry to urgently complete the DPR of the other line so that both proposals of South East Central Railway (SECR) move ahead simultaneously. The other proposal with a total length of 301 km envisages a length 219 km in Jashpur and Raigarh districts of Chhattisgarh and 81 km in Simdega, Gumla and Lohardaga districts of Jharkhand.