Bhubaneswar: Total 1031 km of train line with an average of 147.29 km per year has been commissioned in Odisha during 2014-21 against 267 km of line with an average of 53.4 km per year during 2009-14, said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, the Minister said the average annual Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in Odisha has been enhanced to Rs 4,126 crore per year during 2014-19 from Rs 838 crore during 2009-14.
He informed the House that Orisha government has signed an MoU with the Centre to provide land free of cost and bear 50% of the budget for two ongoing railway projects in the state. While the estimated cost of 289-km Khurda Road-Balangir railway line is Rs 3,792 crore, the 38-km Jeypore-Nabarangpur project is estimated to cost around Rs 748 crore.
The minister further said total Rs 1,497 crore has been spent on Khurda Road-Balangir project upto March 2021 and an outlay of Rs 1,000.5 crore provided in 2021-22 Budget. So far, 92 km of the project including 77-km Khurda Road to Mahipur and 15-km Balangir to Bichupalli has been commissioned.
At present, work has been going on for 45-km Mahipur-Nuagaon-Buguda, 65-km Purunakatak-Boudh-Sonepur and 37-km Sonepur-Jahrtarbha-Bichupalli parts of the project. It involves acquisition of 6,162 acre land and diversion of 1,844 acre forest land.
While 5,667 acre land has been acquired and diversion of 170 acre forest land has been completed, the state government has to acquire 495 acre land and make diversion of 1,674 acre forest land, he added.
For Jeypore-Nabarangpur project, a provision of Rs 15.7 crore has been made in 2021-22 Budget. It involves land acquisition of 772.19 acre private land, 87.77 acre government land besides diversion of 9.7 acre forest land. Land acquisition work has been taken up and the work will start soon, Vaishnaw said.
