RailEnquiry

The clash between the treasury benches and the Opposition Congress took a queer turn as members of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) raked up the issue of step-motherly treatment of Railways towards Odisha.

The BJD capitalized on the issue raised by one of its members Amar Prasad Satapathy during the zero hour, bringing much discomfiture for the Congress legislators.

“Odisha has been continuously ignored by the Railways. A house committee constituted under the chairmanship of the assembly speaker had met the Railway minister to place the state's demand but the ministry has neglected our concerns”, Satpathy said.
“ In 2010-11, Odisha was allocated Rs 841.84 crore in the Railway Budget against its demand of Rs 1805 crore. In 2011-12, we got Rs 1168 crore against our demand of Rs 2085 crore. But it is worse in this fiscal as the state received only Rs 723 crore against its demand of Rs 2345 crore. The Railways have even deducted Rs 186 crore from the allocated amount. The sheer neglect of Railways towards Odisha is one issue which all legislators cutting across party lines need to protest”, he stated.

Echoing Satapathy's views, former minister and BJD MLA Pratap Jena said, “While the Railways is earning Rs 8500 crore every year from Odisha, they are paying back a meagre amount. Every. While the state government is speeding up land acquisition for different rail projects including the Khurda Road-Bolangir rail link, the Railways is not keen to release funds.”

Another BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain said, “We want a full-fledged discussion on the issue of neglect of Railways towards Odisha as the state has been continuously neglected.”

Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh admitted that Odisha has been neglected by the Railways and favoured a discussion on the matter in the house. He, however, blamed the state government for slow pace of expenditure.

Opposition chief whip Prasad Harichandan said, “I share the concerns of the ruling party members on neglect of Railways towards Odisha. Its true that Odisha has been grossly neglected. But the state government also needs to look at its own record of expenditure under railway projects. For 2012-13, Rs 52 crore has been allocated in the Railway Budget for Talcher-Bimlagarh rail link but the state has spent only Rs 6.79 crore.”