Title - BJD youth wing demands restoration of sanctioned railway budget

Opposing the Railway ministry’s move of reduction in the budgetary allocation for railway projects in Odisha, members of Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD), the youth wing of the ruling BJD have demanded restoration of original allocation.

“About 40 legislators and 20 office bearers of the party met Governor Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare and submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India for restoration of the sanctioned budget”, said BJD youth president Sanjay Dasburma.

Of late, the Railway ministry had cut Rs 34 crore from the budgetary allocation of East Coast Railway (ECoR). The money was meant to be spent for the ongoing broad gauge rail link projects which aimed to connect Khurda with Bolangir, Kalahandi with Jharsuguda and Talcher with Bimalagarh. In June this year, the ministry had cut Rs 186 crore from the original budgetary allocation of Rs 723 crore sanctioned for 2012-13.

On October 12, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, objecting the decision of reducing the original budget size by the Railway ministry, has demanded to restore it.

“When the state of Odisha contributes revenue of more than Rs 7,500 crore annually to the Indian Railways, it is a matter of regret that Rs 220 crore has been reduced out of the paltry budgetary allocation”, Patnaik had said in his letter addressed to C P Joshi, the railway minister.