[Watch] An Empty Poll Promise? Seventy Years In The Making: A Rail Line To Malkangiri In Odisha

Malkangiri: The Centre has allocated Rs 13.8 crore for the Jeypore-Malkangiri rail line in Odisha in the Union Budget-2022.

A sum of Rs 33 crore was provided for the 126-km rail line in last year’s Union Budget.

However, other than survey work, the plan has remained largely on paper and, for the people of the district, an empty promise of politicians.

For the last 70 years, politicians have been promising a rail line to Malkangiri to the area’s tribal population during elections, only to be forgotten once the elections are over.

But people were hopeful that the rail line was going to become a reality soon when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took interest and decided that the Odisha government and the Indian Railways would together build the rail line in a joint effort.

In 2016, the Odisha government signed an agreement with the railways under which the state agreed to bear 25 per cent of the construction cost.

Six years have passed since the agreement between the State Transport Authority and the railways, land acquisition for the rail line is yet to start.

After the Centre sanctioned funds for the rail line last year, officials from East Coast Railway, headquartered in the Odisha capital, carried out survey work for the project in Malkangiri.

With only a month left in the current fiscal and not even 10 per cent of the Rs 33 crore sanctioned by the Centre spent yet, many say the funds are going to lapse. Over that, an additional Rs 13.8 crore has been announced for the rail line this year.

“As no land acquisition has been done, this money too is unlikely to be spent,” said former MP and BJP leader Balabhadra Majhi.

Former Malkangiri MLA and Adivasi Vikas Parishad president Manas Madkami blamed the Centre. “Only sanctioning funds is not enough. The Centre has to initiate discussions with the Odisha government and set rolling the land acquisition process,” he said.

The plan

The Jeypore-Malkangiri rail line will be 126 km long, of which 46 km will pass through Khairaput, Mathili and Malkangiri Sadar in Malkangiri district. The survey for this has been completed by the East Coast Railway and the district’s revenue authorities.

But the land acquisition process is yet to start.