Title - Restore Railway budgetary allocation to Odisha: CM

Describing the slashing of budgetary allocation to the Railway projects in the State as a ‘gross injustice’, the State Government on Saturday demanded restoration of the allocation made for 2012-13.“I strongly protest the step-motherly attitude of the Railways to Odisha. I further request you to take immediate steps to restore the budgetary allocation made for Odisha for 2012-13,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a letter to Railway Minister Mukul Roy.Reduction in the Railway budget for Odisha was exposed in a report published in this newspaper on July 16 under the caption ‘Railways slashes Rs 100 crore, derails Odisha projects’. Alleging that the authorities have reduced an amount of Rs 186 crore from the budgetary allocation to different projects in the State, Naveen said Railways earned Rs 7,500 crore revenue in the last financial year from Odisha.Railways had allocated only Rs 723 crore against the State’s projected total demand of Rs 2,345 crore for different projects in the current budget. “Now suddenly again the Railways has announced this reduction which will go against the interest of the State,” he said.Odisha is now in the midst of a strong industrialisation programme and a number of industries and ports are in the pipeline, he said and added reduction in the allocation will greatly affect the process. Railway projects were planned to cater to  the increasing demands of industry, trade and commerce in the State, he said. The slashing would also hurt the common man so far as creation of passenger amenities at different railway stations is concerned, he added.

The Chief Minister in a separate letter to the Railway Minister demanded that the Khurda Road-Puri section (doubling) should be commissioned before Lord Jagannath’s Nabakalebar festival in 2015. Naveen said the existing Khurda-Puri branch line was sanctioned for doubling during the 2000-01, but so far only a stretch of 15 km from Khurda to Delang has been commissioned, while the remaining 28.7 km is yet to be completed.

“In order to meet the increased demand of train service for the Nabakalebar festival, the line capacity of Puri-Khurda branch has to be increased urgently,” he said.

hough about 10 lakh pilgrims come to Puri during the annual Rath Yatra, Nabakalebar being a special occasion is expected to attract about 50 lakh devotees. The previous Nabakalebar, held in 1996, witnessed a congregation of more than 20 lakh people in Puri. Therefore, the State Government wants immediate commissioning of the double line to Puri, he reasoned.