Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday demanded the Centre for a passenger service between Balangir and Bhainsapalli section, which received the safety clearance in October 2018, and introduction of mail and express trains from Nayagarh town to Kolkata and Visakhapatnam.
Naveen requested Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, in a letter, for introduction of the passenger train between Balangir and Bhainspalli without any “further delay”. He also expressed displeasure over the Centre’s failure in not doing so even three months after the 16-km stretch got the clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety.
The new service would meet the “genuine aspirations” of the people of western Odisha, the CM said.
The 16-km stretch falls under the vital Khurda-Banagir rail project, connecting the interior of Odisha.
Reminding the Railway Minister that the state government is investing 50 per cent of the construction cost and providing all lands free of cost in the 177-km-long Daspalla-Balangir section of the project, Naveen said that his government had pursued with the railways to start work from the Balangir end and handed over 19 km of land in 2010.
The CM’s letter to the Centre comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Odisha visit, during which he would inaugurate projects worth over Rs 4500 crore at a function in Baripada. The projects also include announcement of a new train service.
Last week, Union Minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan had accused the Naveen Patnaik government of lack of cooperation for the expeditious completion of railway projects in the State.
In his letter, Naveen also demanded direct train service between Nayagarh town with other cities, a request which he had made earlier as well but elicited no response from Railways.
“As I had earlier requested, mail express train from Nayagarh town, which is a district headquarter, need to be immediately considered for connectivity to Howrah and Visakhapatnam.”
He suggested that the Garib Rath train, which originates from Bhubaneswar for Kolkata, can be extended to the Nayagarh town “without any difficulty”.
These train when introduced, will greatly help people of Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Boudh, Subarnapur and Balangir districts to have better access to the large coastal belt of the state as well as to the economic hub of Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, he added.
