RailEnquiry

All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Sonia Gandhi has asked Union Railway Minister Pawan Bansal to expedite work on the proposed railway wagon factory project in Kalahandi district. Following the direction from the AICC chief, Bansal has asked officials to attach top priority to the project. A detailed project report for the proposed factory has been worked out by the Railway Ministry and the Ministry is likely to float the bid soon inviting companies to participate in the project, sources said. According to a highly reliable source in the Railway Ministry, the Congress chief is likely to inaugurate the foundation laying ceremony of the proposed wagon factory project in the tribal-dominated district. Though no specific date has been finalised for the inauguration of the project, indications are that it may happen in the first week of January. The State Government had offered to provide land for establishment of a railway wagon factory in tribal dominated Kalahandi district. A railway wagon factory in the undeveloped district like Kalahandi, would certainly help boost the economic condition of local people. Earlier, former Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi had announced to set up a wagon factory at Sitalapalli in Ganjam district. The proposal to establish a wagon factory in the State was first mentioned in the Railway Budget of 2011-12. But the then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had said the factory would come up either at Bhubaneswar or in Kalahandi. The State Government had identified 101 acre of land at Sitalapalli after the then Railway Minister had announced the project for Orissa.