Bhubaneswar, Jan 7: Odisha Assembly Panel on Railway, which met Railway minister Suresh Prabhu at New Delhi on Wednesday has sought Rs 5000 crore to complete all on going project in the state.
The panel is led by Assembly Speaker Niranjan Pujari.
During the meeting the panel stressed that rail project execution infrastructure in the State should be strengthened with adequate deployment of officials and staff for time bound implementation of pending projects.
The amount sought by the State government is for sanctioning of new lines, gauge conversion, doubling, dedicated industrial corridor, surveys, improvement of passenger amenities with introduction of new trains, extensions and increase in frequency, etc.
The panel argued that while Odisha contributes more than Rs 14,000 crore to the revenues of Indian Railways, the railway route length spread across the State is less than 2,500 km with an average of 15.03 km per 1,000 square kilometers as against the national average of 19 km.
“Hence, it is requested that Odisha should be paid due attention for allotment of projects and funds in the ensuing Railway Budget 2016-17.
It added that Odisha is progressively emerging as the manufacturing hub of the country based on its available natural resources with substantive addition of energy generation capacity.
“The State is in the steps of adding in excess of 100 Million Tons Per Annum (MTPA) capacity in steel making, 8 MTPA in alumina refining, 15 MTPA capacity in petrochemical refining, 50,000 MWs in power generation and 30 MTPA in cement manufacture.
TATA Steel, Jindal Stainless, Jindal Steel & Power, Bhusan Steel, Bhusan Steel & Power, ESSAR Steel, Visa Steel, NeechalIspat Nigam, NALCO, Sterlite, Indian Oil, Vedanta, Hindalco, Grasim, CESC, GMR Energy, NTPC, Tata Power and Lanco Power are among the blue-chip companies investing in Odisha.
Of the MoUs signed, more than 33 iron and steel projects have gone into commercial production with more than Rs30,000 crore investment”, the proposal added.
The panel sought expansion of criteria for allotment of funds in railway budget. It proposed due weightage to existing route length in the State per thousand square kilometers, contribution of revenue from the State to the exchequer of Railways and special requirement of heavy metal base industries, power plants and ports for elaborate/extensive rail connectivity.
The committee also urged the Railway Minister to create another railway division at Rayagada under the jurisdiction of East Coast Railway Zone comprising lines:Nuapada-Gunupur line with proposed extension to Therubali/Rayagada, Rayagada-Titilagarh-Raipur, Koraput-Rayagada, Koraput-Jeypore-Jagdalpur, Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh and proposed Railway Lines in Malkangiri, KoraputandNawarangpur district.
Besides, the panel also urged covering the backward region of undivided Kalahandi–Bolangir–Koraput (KBK) districts that have remained untouched by the projects of railways under new projects.
