One New Project, 27% Dip In Rail Budget Disappoint Odisha

Bhubaneswar: After the Union Budget, the Rail Budget 2020 too has left Odisha disappointed. Minister Padmanabha Behera on Thursday cried ‘neglect’ despite Chief Minister writing to the Centre listing out four projects for the state.

“Only one line has been announced and that too awaits approval. The other three proposals have been turned down. There has been no word on our demand for unification of railways in Odisha. The grant is also less than expected. We will request the Prime Minister and the Railway Minister to rethink the budgetary allocation,” he said.

In August last year, the Chief Minister had demanded railway connectivity for Maoist-hit Nabarangpur and Malkangiri districts and offered to provide free land and bear half the costs.

The Minister also rued reduced allocation for the state. “We were expecting more than Rs 6,000 crore this fiscal. The allocation usually increases every year, but it is much less than previous year,” he said.

The allocation of Rs 4,373 crore for different railway projects for 2020-21 is around 27 per cent less than that of the last fiscal when the state had received Rs 5,993 crore, which included Rs 1400 crore invested by NTPC for construction of Jharsuguda-Barapali coal corridor.

With stress on completion of on-going projects, the Budget 2020-21 has sanctioned only one new project for the state. A token allotment of Rs 1 lakh has been made for 241-km-long Sambalpur-Gopalpur new line via Phulbani, which will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 2,957 crore, as it awaits the approval of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and NITI Aayog.

The on-going projects longing for funds have been given priority.

Khurda Road-Balangir line – Rs 520 crore against Rs 350 crore in 2019-20.

Angul-Sukinda project – Rs 450 crore against Rs 250 crore last year.

Haridaspur-Paradeep project – Only Rs 100 crore has been provisioned for this project as it is nearing completion and will be commissioned by March this year.  The Centre had allotted Rs 400 crore for this project last year.

The other projects which have received significant allotment are

154-km Talcher-Bimlagarh line (Rs 140 crore)

189-km Kottavalasa-Koraput line (Rs 196 crore)

Koraput-Singapur Road (Rs 201 crore)

110-km Jagadalpur-Koraput (Rs 130 crore)

203-km Raipur-Titilagarh (Rs 146 crore)

Allotment for doubling work includes

182-km Sambalpur-Titilagarh line – Rs 382 crore

174-km Sambalpur-Talcher line – Rs 292 crore

264-km Titilagarh-Vizianagaram third line – Rs 380 crore

206-km Jharsuguda-Bilaspur fourth line – Rs 280 crore

Rourkela-Jharsuguda third line – Rs 170 crore

Budapank-Salegaon third and fourth lines – Rs 205 crore

Jarapada-Budapank third and fourth lines – Rs 118 crore

Besides, electrification of Khurda Road-Balangir and Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh Road lines will be taken up on priority basis.

To enhance safety and eliminate level crossings, Rs 1,165 crore has sanctioned for construction of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and Road Under Bridges (RUBs). The Centre has also allotted Rs 20 crore for wagon repair workshop at Maneswar near Sambalpur.

The total outlay for East Coast Railway (ECoR) is Rs 5,865 crore, railway sources said.