Rourkela: Even though nearly five decades have passed, the construction of the Talcher-Bimalagarh railway project has not been completed. Now, another round of protests over the delay in the project is gathering momentum.
Some intellectuals who were involved in a students’ movement over the project will get together at a meeting Friday to discuss the project’s golden jubilee. Leaders like AP Biswal, Harihar Routray and Bishnu Mohanty will also attend the meeting and will decide on their future course of action.
A students’ action committee was formed in the past and it had started protests over the railway project linking Sundargarh. At that time, going beyond party affiliations many organisations had supported the agitation.
Over 200 students took out a bicycle rally from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar and met then Chief Minister Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo. They also submitted a memorandum to him. The Chief Minister, many ministers and MLAs came out of the Assembly and had praised the students.
The Assembly passed a proposal on the Talcher-Bimalagarh railway project raised by Nishamani Khuntia.
A delegation led by then Chief Minister had gone to New Delhi and submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister.
Even after all this, construction of the railway project was not started. Later, students launched a sit-in near the Rourkela railway station over the issue. A Rourkela bandh was also observed. The impact of the bandh was so intense that normal life was paralysed in the Steel City for 10 days. The police had arrested 107 protesters at that time.
The movement is going to complete 50 years and many people involved in it have died. Even after 50 years, only 10 km of rail track has been completed while many other projects which were undertaken much later have been completed long ago, the intellectuals said.
PNN
