Cuttack: The BJD on Sunday staged a demonstration at Barabati Square in Odisha’s Cuttack, pressing the central government to include the long-pending Cuttack–Bhubaneswar Metro Rail project in the 2026 Union Railway Budget and provide immediate funding for its revival.
Led by Cuttack Mayor Subash Singh, the protest saw BJD leaders and workers gather to voice their frustration over the project’s omission from the recent budget announcements. They described the exclusion as a “major betrayal” of people of Odisha, arguing that the metro is essential for easing severe traffic congestion and enhancing urban connectivity between the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
“Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishaw has been elected to Rajya Sabha from Odisha. He also served as Cuttack Collector. Why is Odisha is being denied a Metro network when the service is operational across 25 states? ” Singh asked.
The BJD leader claimed that around Rs 393 crore was spent on ground work for phase-I construction of the metro rail project in the state capital, before coming to a halt in March 2025 after the BJP assumed power in Odisha.
He threatened to escalate the protests in the coming days and expanded from Odisha to Delhi to press for the revival of the project.
Odisha has received an allocat
ion of Rs 10,928 crore in the Railway Budget for 2026-27, Rs 329 crore more than last year, focusing on projects like station redevelopment (including Cuttack) and freight corridors. However, it has no specific provision for the metro rail initiative.
The Metro Project
The project, initially launched in 2023 under the previous BJD-led state government, was funded entirely by the state and saw the foundation stone laid at Trisulia. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was appointed to execute the work. The original plan outlined a 26-km corridor connecting key locations, including SCB Medical College, Netaji Bus Terminal, and the Orissa High Court in Cuttack, extending to Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar. It envisioned 20 stations, 13 three-coach trains in the initial phase, and an estimated daily ridership of around one lakh passengers.The state cabinet had approved the project on November 14, 2023, with a sanctioned cost of approximately Rs 6,255 crore and a targeted completion within four years.
Change In Plans
The Mohan Majhi government cited concerns over viability, potential cost escalations, and implementation delays, leading to the scrapping of tenders awarded to contractors and a decision to revise the Detailed Project Report (DPR), including possible extensions to areas like SCB Medical College or Cuttack Bus Stand, and even considering alternative alignments such as underground sections in parts of Bhubaneswar.
In January, the CM laid the foundation stone for a Rs 952 crore elevated corridor project from Jayadev Vihar to Nandankanan, the 9.5-km stretch through which the metro project was supposed to pass.