Title - State eagerly waits for rly allocation

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha, which has been alleging regular neglect to it in the Railway Budgets, is waiting with bated breath to see whether budgetary allocations will meet its expectations on the eve of presentation.This year Odisha has placed a demand of Rs 3,050 crore for the state. To press for the demand a delegation led by Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat met Union railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on February 5.The Assembly panel prepared a list of projects which required urgent attention. Of the Rs 3,050 crore sought from Railways for Odisha, Rs 1,440 crore would be for construction of new tracks," said one of the delegation members.The railways had last year allocated Rs 726 crore, but curtailed about Rs 280 crore subsequently much to the disappointment of the state government, sources said.Sources said projects like Haridaspur-Paradip, Khurda-Balangir, Lanjigarh -Junagada are allegedly facing the railway's neglect. Though the Haridaspur-Paradip project was sanctioned in 1994-95, 75% of land was handed over to the railways by 2005. Similarly, out of the proposed 289 km Khurda-Balangir line, work for only 24 km has been completed. Projects like Khurda-Puri doubling, Cuttack-Barang doubling, third line between Barang-Bhubaneswar, doubling of Talcher-Sambalpur and Daitari-Bansapani here no land acquisition is required is going on at a snail's pace.

In 2011-12 budget, the Khurdha-Balangir railway project was allocated Rs 60 crore, which was in lieu of the return of Rs 100 crores. In 2010-11 budget, Rs 120 crore was allocated out of which Rs 100 crore was reportedly returned due to non-utilization. Last year, the project was given Rs 40 crore. Congress whip Prasad Harichandan said the state government was not able to utilize the funds and they were returned. "Even if the allocation is made as per the state's expectation, what is the point if the government takes too much time to acquire the land," he reacted.

Amat, however, expressed hope that the railways will do justice to the state.