Odisha CM Peeved Over Centre’s ‘Neglect’ Towards Railway Sector

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday
expressed his unhappiness over the alleged neglect towards development of railway sector in the state.

“Odisha contributes majorly to the earnings of the Indian Railways and it is a natural expectation that it should get its due share. We hope that our just demands like daily Rajdhani services via Sambalpur; train to Allahabad from Balangir and a new daily express train to Mumbai in the name of Paika leader Buxi Jagabandhu are announced
immediately,” the Chief Minister said, reacting to the Union Budget 2018 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

“The total outlay for Odisha for 2018-19 for railways is not yet known. Our demand is Rs 6,500 crore. We hope this year the allotment is made as per our demand. It is seen that this year also the actual expenditure by railways in Odisha continues to be low and it is expected to be below 60 percent of the budget outlay for the entire year similar to the trends in the recent past, which is quite worrisome,” the CM added.

Naveen stated that announcements have been made on re-development of 600 railway stations. Two years ago, the announcement was made for 400 stations. Nothing has happened in this sector, specifically for Odisha, in which 12 stations had been chosen by railways.

“Odisha government has offered to make a world class and brand new railway station at Bhubaneswar, fully funded by the state and on state government land and yet, railways have not even come forward to sign the MoU. I hope more stations of Odisha are covered and work on the ground can be started this year,” he added.

Naveen said even before the budget, railways have announced a new coach manufacturing factory in Marathwada area of Maharashtra. But it is disappointing that the wagon manufacturing factory at Sitalapalli, where state government has given 100 acre and the project was
sanctioned in 2011-12, has been pushed into cold storage stating non-requirement of wagons. “We had requested to convert it to a coach manufacturing factory, but our legitimate demand has been ignored,” he pointed out.