Title - Odisha: Angul-Sukinda new rail line boosted up

Angul-Sukinda new BG Railway line has got a boost with Chief Secretary Sri Bijay Kumar Patnaik taking the review of its progress in a high level meeting held in secretariat conference hall today wherein senior officers from Railway authorities tabled the present status of the project.

Discussions in the meeting reveal that the Railway line has been envisaged in the light of a number of mega steel plants coming up in this region. This new line will also be a connector between coal fields in Talcher to Banspani-Sukinda line. It will provide for movement of coal and iron ore in two directions. The new BG Railway line will  be a reliable , economic and faster alternative for passenger transport. Around 1 cr. people will be benefited either directly or indirectly by the Line. During construction phase the project will generate near about 14 lakh man days of employment.

Available data shows the total length of the Railway is 102 Kms between Talcher Road ( Talcher –Sambalpur Line) and Bahguapala Station ( Daitari-Keonjhar-Bansapani line ). The estimated of cost of the project at present is Rs1100 Cr. It will serve three districts namely Angul, Dhenkanal and Jajpur.  The total traffic projection of the project has been estimated at 70.28 Million Ton. The new BG Line will cater to the need of a number of industries including Bhsan Steels, Uttam Galva Steels, Jindal Stailess Steel Ltd, Visa Industries, Tata Steel , Kalinganagr, Monnet Ispat & Energy, Arcelor Mittal India and  Rungta Mines,  In the meanwhile the  location survey has been completed and alignment of Rail-Line has been finalized. Bridge work on river Bramhani is in full swing with progress of around 25%.

The    land acquisition to be done has been listed  out which includes 1205 acres of private land, around 220 acres of Govt land and 251 acres of forest land. Sources say, no family is being displaced because of the project. The project is being implemented in PPP mode in partnership between Rail Vikash Nigam, Govt. of Odisha, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd and Bhusan Steel & Power Ltd. It has been decided in the meeting that the cost of the Govt land will be rationalized with the cost of the private lands.

Chief Secretary has advised to expedite the process of land acquisition with the rationalized and acceptable prices. Concerned district administrations have been asked to provide active support in getting physical possession of acquired land.  The committee has proposed OMC to have equity participation in the project.  It has also been decided that one Railway Officer will co-ordinate the matter with forest department and concerned Divisional Forest Officers for expedited disposal of forest clearance cases. Target has been set to start the ground level construction work by end of April, 2013. On Commissioning the Rail-Line will be the life-line of fast growing industrial belt of Odisha.

The Principal Secretary Finance Sri Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, PCCF Sri Priyanath Padhee, R.D.C. Sri Alekh Parihari, MD OMC Sri Saswat Mishra, M.D. Angul-Sukinda Rly Ltd. Sri D.K.Samantray along with  other senior officers participated in deliberations.