Bhubaneswar, Feb 5: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged the Union government to ensure a sizable allocation in this year’s Railway Budget for strengthening and expanding rail infrastructure in the State.
In a letter to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, the Chief Minister reminded him of his earlier correspondences about the priorities of the State and urged him to include the people’s aspirations in the Railway Budget for the year 2016-17.
He said that Odisha continues to be one of the most preferred destinations for investment especially in metal, mining and power sectors and the State Government is leveraging this opportunity to plan for orderly, systematic and comprehensive economic growth by focusing upon infrastructure development and creating dedicated industrial corridors.
The Chief Minister added that the railway route length and rail density in Odisha is very much below national average as also substantially lower than that in neighboring States while the gross earnings from various stations in the state is estimated to be in excess of Rs.14,000 crore during the year 2014-15.
He said that he has reiterated Odisha Government’s commitment to extend all help to Railway Ministry for implementation of railway projects in the State and the State Government has already signed the Odisha state specific umbrella MoU with Railway Ministry for setting up of a JV company for taking up new rail projects in the state with cost sharing of 51 per cent.
Though the MoU has been signed over three months ago, the formation of company is awaiting clearance of the Union Cabinet, he informed the Railway Minister.
He urged Prabhu to expedite signing of the agreement so that the new projects in the State can be taken up through the defined route envisaged in the memorandum of understanding.
